CMU women's basketball grabs third win of the season
Junior guard Lisa Tesson, right, drives against Ball State's junior guard Nyla Hampton, left, during the women's basketball game against Ball State Wednesday, Jan. 17 in McGuirk Arena. Tesson scored three points and made four assists during the game. (Ella Miller | CM Life)
After maintaining a successful lead in the first half, Central Michigan women's basketball continued to hold the advantage over non-conference opponent Chicago State, giving the Chippewas their third win of the season, 66-55.
CMU paused Mid-American Conference play to add its second road win of the season, now standing with a 3-13 record. The win against the Cougars came just a day after CMU took a loss at Northern Illinois.
Throughout the game, the Chippewas found their momentum mostly in the paint, snagging 44 points.
"Paint points are one key factor to winning games," head coach Kristin Haynie said. "Our guards did a better job of getting the ball to Rochelle (Norris)."
Senior center Rochelle Norris was at the center of many points in the paint. She led the game with 16 points, followed by forward Nadége Jean with 12. According to Haynie, Norris continues to improve and earn the team points at the bottom of the court.
"(Rochelle) is doing a great job of doing her work early on the block and getting deep positioning," Haynie said.
In addition to the many points in the paint, CMU secured 26 points off of the Cougars turnovers while Chicago State was held to nine. The Chippewas have struggled with turnovers in previous games but continued to work on that aspect of the game.
"That was good to see that we capitalized off the opponent's turnovers," Haynie said. "We haven't been able to do that too much this season, so (I'm) happy to see the growth in that area."
The Chippewas have tough competition approaching as they return to Mount Pleasant for a MAC matchup against Ohio, Wednesday at 1 p.m. for a Maroon and Gold game.
As they work towards another win, Haynie hopes to use past games as practice for the future.
"We have to build off our 21 assists and our rebounding effort that we had in the second half," Haynie said. "We have to get better defensively and taking care of the ball for us to be successful on Wednesday."
