Women's basketball claims first MAC regular season title in 30 years
The Chippewas clinched the No. 1 seed in the MAC Tournament
It’s been more than three decades since a Central Michigan women’s basketball could say it was Mid-American Conference regular season champions.
The Chippewas can say that and more after knocking off Eastern Michigan 71-48 Saturday at McGuirk Arena on senior day. It was the team’s first regular season title since the 1984-85 season.
The win also set a program record for home victories in a season with 15. CMU finished 15-1 at home on the season and undefeated in conference play.
CMU claimed at least share of the MAC West and regular season title with the win and will be the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament next week.
“Team 49 has an opportunity to do something special that hasn’t been done here before,” said head coach Sue Guevara. “It’s a really nice thing and I get to enjoy it. I’ll enjoy it until we find out who we play, and then it’s time to move on.”
This was CMU’s six 20-win season in the last seven seasons and second consecutive MAC West title and third in the last four seasons.
“We built something here,” Guevara said. “It’s not one of those one year wonders, this team was put together and built to win championships.”
Four Chippewas scored in double figures including senior Jewel Cotton who played her last home game in front of the CMU fans.
“I’m just happy that this is the outcome,” Cotton said. “We’ve been focusing on every game being a championship game and having this game actually be a championship game, it just means we’ve complete task number one.”
CMU opened the game on an 11-2 run, but the Eagles stayed tough trailing 17-10 at the end of the first quarter.
The Chippewas would pull away in the second quarter, holding EMU to just six points to take a 28-16 lead into the break. CMU led by as many as 25 points in the second half, outscoring the Eagles 43-32.
“This team responds,” Guevara said. “It’s been a fun team to coach. They are very coachable.”
Junior forward Tinara Moore finished with 14 points and eight rebounds, Cotton added 14 points and nine rebounds. Sophomore Reyna Frost recorded a double-double, scoring 12 points and pulling in 16 rebounds, while sophomore guard Presley Hudson add 10 points.
Following the victory, the Chippewas celebrated by cutting down the nets and sporting MAC championship t-shirts. Cotton and fellow senior Jasmine Harris spoke to the crowd after the game thanking them for their contributions.
“It’s a great way to out,” Harris said. “As a team, it’s something that we’ve earned and something we’re very happy about. It’s a great way to prepare us for next week. It was a special experience. It’s something that we’ll remember for the rest of our lives.”
CMU will play the winner of the No. 8 seed and No. 9 seed on Wednesday in Cleveland at Quicken Loans Arena.
“It doesn’t matter what your seed is,” Guevara said. “Everybody comes in hungry.”
Last season, CMU made it to the MAC Championship, but fell to Buffalo 73-71 in overtime, when the Bulls’ Stephanie Reid banked in a jumper as time expired to send UB to the NCAA Tournament.
Guevara said the outcome in last season’s MAC final will help keep her team focused heading into this year’s tournament.
“I’m going to go back to 3.2 (seconds),” she said. “There’s no way you can overlook anybody in this league.”
