Women’s basketball comeback effort falls short

The CMU women’s basketball team made several runs down the stretch but couldn’t overcome a first half deficit Wednesday, snapping its four-game winning streak in an 82-76 loss at Kent State.

CMU (7-12, 4-3 MAC) cut the Golden Flashes’ lead to 69-66 with less than five minutes remaining after a layup from junior forward Shonda Long (11 points) and series of team defensive efforts.

But that was as close as CMU would get before a crowd of 291 at the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center in Kent, Ohio.

Kent State used a 1-3-1 defense to stifle CMU shooting early and take a 13-2 lead less than three minutes into the game.

KSU extended its lead to 25-10 before the Chippewas – sparked by the scrappy bench play of senior guards Kendra Holman and Heidi Warczinsky – would claw its way back to within five points, 35-30, with less than three minutes to play in the half.

Like many other times during the game, CMU could not sustain its momentum, allowing the Golden Flashes to end the half on an 8-3 run and take a 43-33 lead into halftime.

Kent State opened its biggest lead of the game, 49-33, minutes into the second half before freshman guard Rachel Mauk checked into the game.

Mauk, with family and friends in the crowd, used a career and game-high 18 points to help spark a CMU rally that cut Kent State’s lead to single digits during the final 10 minutes of the game.

“When Kendra came in, we sped up,” said coach Sue Guevara. “She did a nice job of penetrating and she hit Rachel.”

Holman, Mauk and freshman guard Jalisa Olive helped keep the game close late – CMU trailed by five points with a little more than a minute remaining – but were overwhelmed and undermanned in the final few minutes.

Holman scored 12 points, her second consecutive game scoring in double figures, while Warczinsky and Olive combined for 11 points off the bench.

The team, however, got little production from starters Britni Houghton (five points on 2-of-11 shooting), sophomore forward Skylar Miller (four points and two rebounds in 27 minutes) and freshman guard Stefanie Mauk (zero points in 15 minutes).

CMU was out rebounded 39-25 in the game.

“I just thought we had a major breakdown in our back line,” Guevara said. “I thought some of our big guns really struggled again today.”

Guevara said the lack of production may result in some changes to the starting lineup on Saturday.

“Right now, I’m not really happy with some people,” she said. “When somebody makes 10 turnovers in two games (Houghton), I have got to make a change.

“I just don’t like how we lost this one.”

Four players scored in double figures for Kent State (12-7, 5-2 MAC), who shot 52.8 percent from the floor compared to 46.3 percent for the Chippewas.

CMU returns to Rose Arena at 4 p.m. Saturday against Miami (Ohio).