CMU women’s basketball falls to Georgia Tech
After outscoring Central Michigan women’s basketball 23-11 in the second quarter, Georgia Tech continued its momentum defeating the Chippewas 71-45 on Sunday.
CMU is 1-8 on the season.
“I thought there were spurts where we played pretty well,” said head coach Heather Oesterle. “The bottom line is I gotta have more people that are capable of scoring, and we have that. It's just I think our schedule has not been easy. And, if they could just see the ball going through the net. I mean, we missed a ton of layups from the start of the game, and those are really good shots. We're getting really good shots; we just have to finish.”
The Chippewas committed 22 turnovers allowing Georgia Tech to score 21 points off their mistakes.
“We had two right in a row that we literally just threw it out of bounds,” Oesterle said. “And people were open. And that's part of, at that point, we were kind of rattled…I'm gonna be patient in dealing with some of those turnovers because we have such a young backcourt, but nine of those turnovers came from our post-play. And that's (where) we got to clean up for sure."
Freshman guard Sydney Harris led the offensive effort for the Chippewas with 21 points along with three assists and two rebounds. This marks the fourth-straight game for Harris with more than 20 points.
CMU struggled to get things going, scoring two points in the game's first five minutes. However, the Chippewas went on a 7-0 run, aided by five points from Harris, to end the first quarter down 15-12.
The Yellow Jackets used an 11-0 run to secure a double-digit advantage with four minutes left in the second quarter. CMU had no answer and went into halftime down 38-23.
Georgia Tech took advantage of the Chippewas' mistakes carrying a commanding 56-30 lead into the fourth quarter.
Harris secured seven-straight points for CMU to begin the fourth quarter however, the Yellow Jackets maintained their lead throughout the quarter, grabbing a 71-45 victory.
“Our schedule has not been easy,” Oesterle said. “We're playing the top of all these conferences. I could have scheduled a division III school or an NAIA school, and we feel really good about ourselves after beating them and it's like, I'm not going to do that. That's not what these players came here (for)... I'm hoping when we get to conference play, it does pay off.”
Freshman guard Bridget Utberg put up eight points, three assists, two rebounds and two steals in the loss.
Junior center Rochelle Norris led the Chippewas on the boards with seven, four points, and one block.
The Chippewas travel to Charleston, Illinois to face off against Eastern Illinois on Sunday at 1 p.m.
