The banner for the 1983-84 Mid-American Conference championship hanging in the rafters of Rose Arena haunts women’s basketball coach Sue Guevara.

The team has not won a conference title since then.

“We have a tough climb in the MAC … expectations are high, but we’re ready,” Guevara said in a press conference Tuesday during CMU basketball media day.

The open-to-competition starting point guard position was one of the major topics addressed. The spot was left vacant following a season-ending injury to MAC Freshman of the Year Brandie Baker.

“It’s difficult for her to watch,” Guevara said.

Angel Chan, the team’s starting guard last season, graduated in the spring.

Seniors Kendra Holman and Heidi Warczinsky, junior Camille Ramsey and freshman Jalisa Olive are battling for the position.

“I’ve been working hard, playing hard and trying to minimize my mistakes so I can get some playing time,” Olive said.

While not officially naming an early frontrunner for the spot quite yet, Guevara said she really likes Holman.

“Right now, it’s a day-to-day basis,” she said.

Issues addressed

Issues that plagued CMU last season, defense and rebounding, also were addressed.

“These are two areas we’re working on,” Guevara said. “(It’s) something that has been stressed every day in practice.”

Despite averaging 78.3 points per game during the 2008-09 season, fourth in the nation, the team held opponents to 75 points per game. The Chippewas also were outrebounded 42 to 38.6 per game last season.

“It’s no surprise that we’re a scoring team from last year’s stats,” said senior forward Britni Houghton. “We’re just working on emphasizing defense.”

Guevara, in her third year as head coach at CMU, stressed a strong non-conference schedule to help get the team ready for MAC play.

CMU travels to DePaul and Illinois, hosts Georgetown and Louisville, and will participate in the Miami Holiday Tournament (with Texas as one of its opponents) before beginning conference play Jan. 6 at Eastern Michigan.

The game against Georgetown, the annual “Recess in Rose” game that attracts more than 4,000 elementary and middle school students, on Nov. 25 is already sold out. The game last season against Valparaiso drew a women’s basketball record crowd of 4,478 fans to Rose Arena.

The women’s team will play an exhibition game at 2 p.m. Sunday against Saginaw Valley State at Rose Arena.

E-mail the author: Aaron McMann