Women falter in second half

After building a 14-point halftime lead Wednesday, the women’s basketball team could not hold on, losing to Toledo 60-53 at Rose Arena.

After a near-flawless first half by the Chippewas, the Rockets made the necessary halftime adjustments and came out in the second half applying full court pressure and zone defense.

“We are difficult to handle against a man-to-man defense and teams are starting to go zone on us,” said CMU coach Eileen Kleinfelter. “I need someone to step up with confidence.”

With the loss, CMU falls to 4-8 for the season and 0-1 in the MAC.

Changing to full court pressure and zone defense was the turning point in the game for the Rockets, as they held CMU to 18 second half points.

“For the first time in a long time we started attacking the basket more aggressively and we made things happen,”said Toledo coach Mark Ehlen. “Our man to man was not very good.”

Central turned the ball over 12 times in the final 20 minutes.

The new defensive strategy combined with CMU turnovers led to a 25-9 run that put Toledo ahead 46-44 with 7:31 remaining. CMU never regained the lead.

“We have to recognize that when we have a lead we can’t just sit on it,” said sophomore Lindsay Mecoli. “We have to keep attacking and work the ball around.”

The Rockets scored many easy baskets in transition, shooting 63 percent in the second half. Central committed 20 turnovers for the game, and are 1-6 this season when committing 20-plus turnovers.

“We were complacent and we didn’t attack,” Mecoli said. “They picked up the level of play and we didn’t.”

In the first half, CMU showed its versatility by taking the ball to the basket and also shooting from the outside. They outscored Toledo 35-21 in the first half.

Mecoli capped a 16-2 run with consecutive three pointers that forced Toledo to call timeout with 4:54 remaining in the first half.

“That was one of the most spectacular first halves that I have seen us play,” said Kleinfelter. “Every play we called worked.”

Mecoli scored all of her 14 points, including four three pointers, in the first half and only attempted four shots in the second half.

“We did not play 40 minutes, we have to come out ready to play 40 minutes or we are not going to win,” Mecoli said.

Senior Amanda Elwer and sophomore Casey Manning took the ball inside and got many easy lay-ups against Toledo’s taller post defense, but could not do the same in the second half against the zone.

“Casey was unstoppable tonight against the man to man defense,” Kleinfelter said.

Elwer scored eight points and had four rebounds while Manning scored 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

Although CMU got inside often, they could only get to the free-throw line twice.

“We have got to get someone out there to be a zone buster and get to the line more,” Kleinfelter said.

Sophomore Erin Kuhl tied her career high with six assists in the game with.

Junior Karin Hoogendam led Toledo with 14 points and seven rebounds. The 6’3″ center took advantage of the shorter CMU post players to get inside and score.

The Chippewas were without sophomore post player Chasidy Myers for the fourth straight game because of injury.