Women’s basketball loses at Akron, fails to gain ground in division

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With an opportunity to gain ground in the Mid-American Conference West Division on Thursday, the CMU women’s basketball team lost 62-55 to Akron at Rhodes Arena in Akron, Ohio.

With the loss, CMU remains two games behind MAC West leader Toledo, which lost to Kent State on Wednesday.

CMU (8-13, 5-4 MAC) had difficulty making layups and shooting the ball, going 18-for-60  (30 percent) from the field.

“It was just a very, very poor offensive performance tonight,” said coach Sue Guevara.

Junior guard Shonda Long and senior guard Kendra Holman were the only CMU players to score in double figures, with 17 and 10 points respectively.

Guevara said the three players that the team depends on — Long, senior Britni Houghton and junior forward Kaihla Szunko — did not produce.

“Our big three have to come to play,” Guevara said. “Britni Houghton missed layups; Kaihla Szunko looked like she was afraid today – she wasn’t looking to attack the basket. Those kids have got to make shots.”

Houghton was limited to two points and eight rebounds, while Szunko had six points and five rebounds.

“That’s a given, we should be more consistent,” Houghton said. “But in the same aspect, what’s going to happen next year when I’m gone or when Kaihla’s gone? Yeah, we need to be more consistent, but then there’s going to be days where our shots don’t fall.”

A slow tempo characterized the beginning of the game as Akron got out to an early 9-3 lead after three CMU turnovers and a pair of jumpers by senior guard Ayla Guzzardo (nine points, five assists).

After the Chippewas cut Akron’s lead to two points with 6:11 remaining in the first half, the Zips went on a 10-0 run in a more than 3-minute span to take a 26-16 lead.

CMU shot 26.7 percent in the first half compared to Akron’s 41.4 percent. It trailed 28-25.

Shooting woes and missed layups continued in the second half as CMU opened 0-for-6 from the field, allowing Akron to build a 38-27 lead with 14:44 remaining in the game.

“There were times where we pushed temp but missed layups,” Guevara said. “Those are momentum killers.”

CMU answered with a Skylar Miller layup to cut the deficit to nine points, but the Zips responded with a Jolene Tamboue basket.

Akron maintained a double-digit lead until a late-game flurry helped CMU pull within seven. It proved to be too late, however.

Akron’s Kara Murphy had 17 points, while senior forward Jolene Tamboue had 11 points and 10 rebounds for Akron (13-9, 7-2 MAC).

CMU will continue its road trip at 2 p.m. Saturday at Buffalo (6-16, 2-7 MAC), which is coming off a 78-65 loss to Eastern Michigan.

sports@cm-life.com