Preview: CMU women’s basketball gets ready for another season of action
After a summer of preparation, Central Michigan’s women’s basketball team is ready to hit the court this season with a lot of new faces on the roster.
Coming off of a rough season, where the team went 6-22 overall and 4-14 in conference play, the Chippewas are looking to turn things around moving forward into this season.
Team chemistry
In her second year as head coach for Central Michigan, Kristin Haynie now has her own recruiting class, which includes 10 new players on the roster.
Although there are so many new players on the roster, the team spent a lot of time throughout the offseason building up team chemistry, which came easily.
“This team is special,” Haynie said. “I tell them almost every day, just their chemistry with each other… With such a different team and bringing different personalities and different players in, in one season, their chemistry is really good.”
Returning players and new faces
This year’s roster is led by two seniors; guards Lisa Tesson and Jess Lawson. Tesson is a returning athlete, while Lawson transferred in from the University of Illinois Springfield, a division two school.
Tesson has played for the Chippewas since she entered the program as a freshman. Last season, she averaged the most minutes per game on the team with 30.5. Tesson also scored an average of 4.4 points a game while dishing out an average of 3.0 assists a game.
During the press conference, Lawson explained the reasons why she picked Central Michigan over the other schools that she was looking at.
“It was an easy decision for me," Lawson said. "There was a couple of schools that were looking at me, but Central Michigan, just because of the culture, the coaching staff, it's really a family based culture here, and that's really what I was looking for.”
The team also includes four juniors, two of which are returning from last season. Guard Taylor Anderson played for the Chippewas last season, leading the team in steals with 37 total over 19 games.
Anderson is working back from an injury that has sidelined her for eight months, including the end of last season. Because she hasn’t been able to be a leader on the court, she has taken to being a leader from the sidelines, which has allowed her to share advice with the freshman and newcomers to the program.
“I would say also just being confident and don't forget why you came here or what you do,” Anderson said. “If you're a shooter, continue to shoot. If you are a driver, continue to do that. But just stay confident in yourself and what you know how to do.”
Also returning to the Chippewas is sophomore Desrae Kyles. Kyles, who is 6-foot-5, is the tallest player on the roster for CMU this season and will look to make her presence known in the paint.
Satori Griffin, a 5-foot-9 junior guard from Mt. Pleasant, joined the team midway through last season, but did not play in a game. She redshirted, saving a year of eligibility, and looks to get on the court this season for her first action with Central Michigan.
Before coming to CMU, Griffin played at Mid-Michigan College, where she helped lead the Lakers to numerous different tournaments and championships, including the 2023 NJCAA II national tournament.
Griffin was named second-team All-MCCAA Northern and all-defensive team in 2022-23. She shot 46.2 percent from the field and 75.6 percent from behind the free throw line in her last season with Mid-Michigan.
Haynie is not only impressed with the senior’s communication, but also with the rest of the teams’ as well, including the freshmen.
“So it's not just a seniority thing. We empower everybody to speak up and I feel like that's one of the reasons why our chemistry is so good,” Haynie said. “And they respect each other and they listen to each other.
Focus for this season
In terms of how Haynie wants her team to play this year, she was clear that defense would be a big part of the game plan, just like it was last season.
“We want to defend, rebound, run and press…” Haynie said. “Our defense is gonna create our offense. We always talk about how we're not always going to be able to make the shot, you know, in the game on offense, but we can control our defense and our effort.”
The Chippewas officially open their season against Coastal Carolina as the two teams battle it out in the MAC-SBC Challenge on Monday at 6:30 p.m.
