Women’s basketball team finally gets production in first half

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Maybe the CMU women’s basketball team should considering wearing pink all the time.

With both teams sporting pink head bands, shoe laces, socks and other accessories on Valentine’s Day for breast cancer awareness, CMU left its usually dismal first-half performance at home.

The team used a high-powered attack right from the start toward a dominating 98-71 win against Northern Illinois.

The offense expected of this team finally showed on the court. Senior forward Britni Houghton and junior guard Shonda Long scored the Chippewas’ first 16 points of the game, including three 3-pointers from Long, who scored a game-high 23 points. Houghton and Long scored 16 and 17 points in the first half, respectively.

After a huge confidence-building upset win Wednesday against Bowling Green, CMU showed it can play hard and tough for a full 40-minute game and manhandle a weaker opponent. Coach Sue Guevara said the team really needed a win like this. It finally got one.

Nine different players scored for the Chippewas, while only eight players played throughout the game for the Huskies. A short bench for Northern Illinois gave the Chippewas an opportunity to run up and down the floor and pressure the ball, wearing down an inferior NIU team.

Junior forward Kaihla Szunko secured her ninth double-double of the season, scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.

A 47-28 halftime lead had the Chippewas in complete control and the game had the looks of a blowout after the first 12 minutes, but they did not slow down.

In fact, they came out in the second half just like they have come out in the second half all season, playing tough and aggressive basketball, leading to a 12-4 run to start the half. It put CMU up by 25.

The rest was history from that point.

Sophomore forward Skylar Miller and Freshman guard Jalisa Olive got into the scoring mix with six points each, while senior guard Heidi Warczinsky added 12 to fuel the Chippewas in the second half.

In just her second career collegiate start, freshman Rachel Mauk had arguably her best game of the season, scoring 13 points with three 3-pointers. Mauk adds an outside presence and is very strong with the ball. She can dribble and drive, and has been very smart with the ball in pressure situations.

The Chippewas have a week off to prepare for Eastern Michigan Saturday at Rose Arena. EMU (8-4 Mid-American Conference) is in second place in the MAC West and just one game ahead of the Chippewas (7-5 MAC).

Coming down the stretch, holding serve at home in their next two games will ultimately decide CMU’s seeding in the MAC Tournament.