Women’s basketball team use fast start to beat NIU

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The CMU women’s basketball team got off to a fast start for the first time this season and maintained it en route to a 98-71 win against Northern Illinois on Saturday at Rose Arena.

CMU (10-14, 7-5 MAC) now has won eight consecutive games at Rose Arena, its longest streak since the 1990-91 season.

Surrounded by shades of pink in support of the Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Association “Pink Zone Challenge,” CMU picked up the pace after an evenly played first few minutes with NIU.

Junior guard Shonda Long hit a 3-point field goal with 16:04 remaining in the first half to put CMU up 11-7, a lead the Chippewas would not relinquish.

“As everyone knows, we’ve been slow starters,” said coach Sue Guevara. “We wanted to get out and throw the first punch.”

Long finished the game with a game-high 23 points on 7-of-14 shooting, with all her made field goals coming from 3-point range.

“If she hits her first one, she’s going to be in for a good night, which means we’re going to be in for a good night,” Guevara said.

CMU shot 45 percent from the floor in the first half compared to NIU’s 40 percent.
The second half was more of the same as CMU shot more than 51 percent and maintained a 20-point advantage, opening up leads as big as 33.

The Chippewas also won the points off turnovers battle, 30-12, and earned 12 points off fast breaks compared to 2 points for the Huskies.

“The last time we played them, we only had eight turnovers and they had more than us,” Long said. “We just knew that if we pressured them, they would be turnover-prone.”

Senior forward Britni Houghton and junior forward Kaihla Szunko helped lead the CMU charge with Houghton scoring 19 points and Szunko collecting her ninth double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Freshman guard Rachel Mauk, who started in her second consecutive game, scored 13 points.

“I told myself that I needed to keep confident because I’m a freshman and it’s hard for freshmen to come in and play right away,” Mauk said. “I’ve been working hard in practice and (staying) consistent.”

Mauvolyene Adams scored 18 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for NIU (9-15, 3-9 MAC).

CMU plays second-place Eastern Michigan, one game ahead of the Chippewas in the MAC West standings, at 2 p.m. Saturday at Rose Arena.