Western rips women’s hoops team 82-63

On Saturday, the CMU women’s basketball team looked to win its fourth game in five outings, unfortunately the Western Michigan Broncos had other ideas.
Led by four starters in double figures, two of whom also had double-digit rebounds, the Broncos stampeded the Chippewas, 82-63.
“I was really disappointed in our play today,” CMU Head Coach Fran Voll said.
“I was thinking we would play better in the first half.”
Central was led by 11 points from a pair of post players in center Shelly Woods and Desiree Eidson, who scored 11 in 23 minutes of action off the bench.
Vershaun Jones grabbed 11 boards for the Chips, while Eidson had a career-high in points, steals (two), free throws made (four) and three pointers, hitting the first of her young career at 10:50 of the second half.
Shelsea Erving led WMU with 17 points, while Danielle Mueller and freshman Kristin Koetsier each added 16 points. Mueller had 11 rebounds, while Koetsier had 12 rebounds.
Coming into the game, Voll knew his team would have to alter its approach to deal with Koetsier and the focus of the plan was Jones. A wrench was thrown into the idea early though as Jones picked up her second foul of the game at 18:08 of the first half.
“Vershaun’s two personal fouls took our heart out offensively and defensively,” Voll said. “We need her for a longer period of time.”
Jones though did manage 30 minutes of playing time and did not pick up a foul the rest of the contest.
The two early whistles did force Voll and his staff to change their game plan on the fly, throwing several defenses at the Broncos in an effort to stop Koetsier.
“We’ve seen a lot of things thrown at us this year because of Kristin Koetsier,” WMU Head Coach Ron Stewart said. “She’s become a better passer, and looking to pass more which makes us a better team.”
Koetsier came into the game averaging 20.0 points per game, good enough for seventh in the NCAA and second among freshman. The Chips were torched for 32 earlier this season by the nation’s leading scorer, guard Julie Szabo of Stony Brook.
For Voll though, the story of the game laid with the Chippewas’ shortcomings as much as with Western’s successes.
“We struggled from an individual standpoint and this really affected our play,” Voll said.
The Chippewas were beaten from the field though as the Broncos made 32-of-58 for a blistering 55 percent for the game. Central meanwhile was held to 38 percent shooting, including 32 percent in the first half after which they trailed 43-25.
Central and Western played even in the turnover department, with 13 apiece, but to Voll this stat may be deceiving.
“It wasn’t so much the quantity as it was the quality of turnovers,” he said.
With the loss the Chips fall to 8-13 overall and 5-5 in Mid-American Conference play, while Western improves to 12-9 overall and 9-1 in MAC action.
Looking ahead to the playoffs, currently the Chips are seeded seventh and would host a first-round game on Feb. 28.