CMU women's basketball loses third straight
Following a layup and a defensive stop, Central Michigan women's basketball charged up the court, looking to change the momentum of the game against Bradley University.
That's when senior guard Lisa Tesson took a pass from freshman guard Amaya Smith, and drained a three-point shot to cut the Bradley Braves' lead to just five points with about three minutes left in the third quarter, the lowest the lead had been since the beginning of the game.
Despite the small change in momentum in the third quarter, the Chippewas were forced to play catch up for much of the game after falling behind early. Ultimately, Central Michigan was unable to get back in the game and fell short of the victory, losing 66-57 to Bradley on Sunday.
“It was disappointing and frustrating,” head coach Kristin Haynie said. “Our effort wasn't there. Defense is controllable and you can have (an) off shooting night on offense, but your defense needs to stay consistent and we just weren't tough, physical, gritty. So the effort wasn't good.”
Both teams struggled to consistently make shots to start the game. The Chippewas fell behind early as Bradley found momentum first, knocking down its shots about halfway through the first quarter.
Central Michigan scored its first points of the game at the 8:24 mark. However, the Chippewas couldn’t find the basket again until about two minutes left in the quarter, shooting 4-for-17 in the first. The Braves used a 12-0 run to take control of the game, leading 20-8 heading into the second.
Bradley continued to score in the next quarter. While Central Michigan found more offensive success, it couldn’t slow down the Braves.
Both the Chippewas and the Braves improved their shooting percentage in the second quarter. Central Michigan shot 43.8 percent from the floor, while Bradley hit an efficient 61.5 percent of their shots. The Chippewas trimmed the Bradley lead to just 10 at halftime, with the Braves up 37-27.
The two teams battled it out for momentum to start the second half. However, it wasn’t until late in the third quarter that Central Michigan began to chip away at the Bradley lead.
The Chippewas outscored the Braves 15-13 in the third. With the help of Tesson’s layup and three-pointer, the Bradley lead was just eight to end the third quarter.
“We did a better job… locking down on defense in the third quarter, holding them to 13 points," Haynie said. "I mean, that's a positive and that's who we want to be, and the other quarters, they just scored too many points.”
Central Michigan continued to claw back at the Bradley lead throughout the fourth, but were ultimately unable to catch up and overtake the Braves before the final buzzer. Turnovers helped keep the Braves ahead as Central Michigan committed four in the fourth quarter, leading to six points.
The Chippewas did manage to shut down Bradley graduate guard Ruba Abo Hashesh in the second half. Abo Hashesh led the Braves with 11 points in the first half, but was unable to score anything in the second.
Unfortunately for the Chippewas, the Braves were able to rely on senior guard/forward Kaylen Nelson and senior guard Soleil Barnes. Nelson scored eight points in the second half and ended the day with 17 total, while Barnes scored nine of her 11 in the second alone.
“We just put more emphasis on her (Abo Hashesh) in the second,” Haynie said. “Number four (Barnes) is a really good player and so we were really focused on her, and then eight (Nelson) got away from us.”
None of the Chippewas reached double digit scoring, with freshman guard Madi Morson and senior guard Jess Lawson leading the way with nine points each. Junior forward Demetria Prewitt shot 4-of-5 on the afternoon and scored eight.
Sophomore center Taylor Johnson also scored eight, while Tesson, who shot 50% from the floor, and Riley Smith scored seven apiece.
The Chippewas sit at 0-3 and will look to grab their first win of the season as they play Oakland University at 1 p.m. on Sunday at McGuirk Arena.
