CMU women's basketball ends season in MAC tournament loss
Turnovers and struggles on both sides of the ball prove costly
Central Michigan women’s basketball head coach Kristin Haynie looks toward her team during a timeout in their match against Toledo at Rocket Arena, in Cleveland, Ohio, on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. Toledo defeated CMU 76-58. (CM-Life | Mark Hoover)
CLEVELAND, OHIO -- After struggling to keep No. 7 Central Michigan off the scoreboard in the first half, No. 2 Toledo needed to make an adjustment. That’s exactly what the Rockets did, tweaking their game in the second half and using a 3-point barrage to take a commanding lead of their Mid-American Conference tournament game against the Chippewas.
With the 76-58 loss, Central Michigan's season is officially over.
“Well, (it was a) disappointing loss for how we started,” head coach Kristin Haynie said. “(I’m) very proud of them. The first two-and-a-half quarters, we played Chippewa basketball. And then we let the game get away from us. Give Toledo credit for changing their defense up and (getting) our offense stagnant.”
The Chippewas got on the board first, when freshman forward Ayanna-Sarai Darrington sank a layup to start the game. Central Michigan got out to a hot start, knocking down its first three shots. Toledo kept it close, however, with a quick three in the opening minutes.
After the first baskets, Central Michigan began to struggle. Following a basket scored at the 8:19 mark of the first, the Chippewas didn’t score another bucket for over four minutes. Turnovers became an early problem for the team, which gave the ball up three times in the first half of the opening quarter.
Toledo took its first lead of the game using that third turnover, and it was the Rockets up 8-6 as the clock passed the halfway mark of the first.
Coming out of the first media timeout, both teams knocked down back-to-back shots from deep. The Chippewas then tied it up at 11 with a layup from junior forward Demetria Prewitt down low.
Freshman Madi Morson, who was named Mid-American Conference freshman of the year earlier in the week, finally hit her first bucket of the game with 2:14 left in the first quarter. The Chippewas followed that up with a bucket and free throw from Darrington to take a slight lead.
At the end of the first quarter, it was the Chippewas who held a 16-15 lead, despite committing six early turnovers.
Both squads kept the game close to begin the second, trading baskets. With 6:21 left in the first half, junior guard Taylor Anderson dropped in a layup, extending the Chippewa lead to eight and forcing the Rockets to take a timeout.
After the timeout, Toledo graduate guard/forward Nan Garcia hit a 3-pointer, clawing back at the Central Michigan advantage. Shortly after, Garcia knocked down another shot from deep, closing the gap on the scoreboard to just two.
The two teams continued to battle it out as the first half drew to a close. At the halftime buzzer, it was Central Michigan that was leading 36-31.
The Chippewas finished the first half with 12 turnovers. Despite having ample opportunities, however, the Rockets were largely unable to use the CMU turnovers to their advantage, scoring only 11 points off of the takeaways.
“I thought it's the jitters, their first time coming to Cleveland, so we were kind of playing hot potato,” Haynie said. “The most frustrating part is when we get a steal and then we turn it over, right? Some of that is not necessarily Toledo's defense, right? So we talked about (how) we're shooting ourselves in the foot. But at times Toledo did influence us on the offensive end and they did a good job guarding us.”
After the break, the Chippewas began the second half in style. Senior guard Lisa Tesson threaded the needle and found Morson with a pass for a wide open layup.
Toledo began the second half with back-to-back misses while the Chippewas stretched their lead in the opening minutes of play.
The Rockets continued to miss their shots, finding little traction on offense. With a little more than seven minutes to play in the third quarter, Morson stepped up to the line and made both of her free throws to give Central Michigan a 10-point lead.
Toledo responded by making its first basket of the second half, grabbing three points back from the deficit with a bucket and free throw. The basket started what would eventually become a massive run by the Rockets that they would use to take control of the game.
Turnovers continued to plague the Chippewas throughout the second half. The Rockets used one of those turnovers to take their first lead since the first half, 45-44, with 3:25 left in the third quarter.
Towards the end of the third period, the Chippewas found themselves in the midst of a four-minute scoring drought, unable to get anything to fall on the offensive end of the floor.
With 1:38 left in the third, Central Michigan finally found a bucket. The Rockets, however, were unfazed, as they sank two triples on back-to-back possessions and extended their lead to 10.
At the end of the third, Toledo completely flipped the script on the Chippewas , shooting 3-5 from behind the 3-point line and limiting Central Michigan to only 26.3% from the field. Heading into the final quarter of play, Toledo held a 56-48 lead over Central Michigan.
The Rockets continued to command the game in the fourth, while the Chippewas found themselves with zero momentum. Central Michigan didn’t score its first basket of the fourth until the 6:40 mark, finding itself frigid on offense.
With under three minutes left in the game, Toledo again hit back-to-back 3-pointers, putting a final stamp on their quarterfinal victory.
The Rockets ended the game with a 41.9% field goal percentage and a 56.5% percentage from behind the arc. Toledo was especially dominant from deep in the second half, going 8-12 in 3-point attempts.
The Chippewas ended the game with 20 turnovers, leading to 18 points by the Rockets. After shooting 54.2% from the field in the first half, Central Michigan shot only 25.7% in the second.
Senior guard Jess Lawson led the team with a double-double, scoring 14 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. Morson ended the game with 12 points, while Prewitt added 10 of her own.
“Overall, very proud of them,” Haynie said. “Proud of their season for continuing to get better. We just stuck with the process. We're a very young team … and so we'll take a lot of... lessons from this for next year.”
