CMU women's basketball falls to Buffalo on the road
With six minutes left in the fourth quarter, Central Michigan women's basketball had a 61-59 lead. However, the Chippewas struggled down the stretch going five minutes without a basket, ultimately causing them to fall to Buffalo 70-63 on Saturday.
In the first quarter, the Chippewas (3-10, 1-1) struggled on both ends of the court shooting 5-for-14 from floor (35.7%) and only scoring 10 points. Defensively, the Chippewas could not stop the Bulls (6-5, 1-1) on the inside as they scored 20 points in the paint. In the last five minutes of the quarter, the Bulls went on a 18-4 run to make it a 24-10 game.
"It was them just out working us to rebounds," said head coach Heather Oesterle. "We were playing a zone and they were being way like more scrappy again all along rebounds. I mean, we wanted them to shoot the three ball and they were shooting it in the first half, but we just had to come up with rebounds. And you know, a couple turnovers here and there... lead to transition layups so just stuff like that we need to clean up."
CMU had contribution from its bench as junior center Rochelle Norris and sophomore guard Karrington Gordon scored the Chippewas eleven points in the second quarter. CMU still had trouble defending Buffalo's guard Zakiyah Winfield and Re'Shawna Stone who combined for a total of 10 points in the quarter. Going into the half CMU trailed 39-21.
The Chippewas' two leading scorers this season in freshman guards Sydney Harris and Bridget Utberg did not have a single point in the first half. Graduate student guard Anika Weekes was the only one of the five starters to score in the first half.
Out of the half, the Chippewas were red hot offensively scoring 34 points in the third quarter. Harris after a scoreless first half found her rhythm in the second scoring 13 points. Norris also continued to dominate in the post making hard contested put back layups. Defensively, CMU forced the Bulls to make six turnovers in the quarter. Going into the fourth the Chippewas' took a 55-51 lead.
"We just went over some adjustments (during the half) but yeah, they realized that we came out flat but that we need to get going," Oesterle said. "Then I said something to Sydney Harris at halftime... I was like... what can I run to get you going. You know, I think she had all 13 in the third, but we needed to get her some open looks, so we went to her early on in the second half."
Down the stretch, late in the fourth quarter CMU had a hard time scoring. The Chippewas only scored two points in the last six minutes of the game missing wide-open layups and shots. This led to a Buffalo comeback and ultimately a Bulls 70-63 win.
"Yeah, we got off to a really flat start and it took us a lot of energy in the third to come back and take the lead," Oesterle said. "We had three freshmen in the game, and they made some young mistakes down the stretch, some crucial turnovers. We were down three I think, Taylor (Anderson) missed like a wide-open rebound put back lay up so definitely had the chances to win. We just needed to make sure we execute, especially with our young guard play we have a lot to learn from."
Norris now has back-to-back games with a double-double, finishing the game with 25 points and 14 rebounds. Gordon also finished with 15 points off the bench.
"Oh, I think those two get better every single game and you know you look at some of Rochelle's baskets I mean, those were tough finishes inside," said Oesterle. "Then Carrington if we can just get her to realize that you know not a lot of people can guard her when she gets to the basket you know... she's pretty much unstoppable when she goes in there because she's so athletic and can jump over people."
CMU will travel to Ohio to take on Bowling Green on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
