COLUMN: Women’s basketball warrants attention

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I realized something while sitting courtside at the end of the first overtime of Saturday’s women’s basketball game between CMU and Eastern Michigan.

I was wrong.

Before the season started, I was a little skeptical about covering women’s basketball. Sure, I was happy to be covering one of the more prominent sports at CMU, but women’s hoops?

The players don’t move as quick as the men, can’t dunk and were perceived by some, including me, as a boring brand of basketball.

While this season has been one of disappointment, excitement and everything in between for the team, Saturday’s thriller of a game against EMU erased all of those preconceived notions.

The final score, 113-107 in double overtime, says it all.
Both teams traded baskets throughout the first half. When one team went on a four or six-point run, the other answered. It had the makings of a classic early on.

Then, in the second half, came one of the best five minutes of basketball I have ever seen. With CMU leading 67-66, EMU guard Sydney Huntley went on a tear, scoring 17 consecutive points for EMU, including hitting four consecutive 3-pointers.

Every time CMU would get a basket, Huntley responded.

The final minutes of regulation were no different, with free throws becoming crucial for both teams. A missed free throw by Huntley with 21 seconds remaining and a missed layup by CMU freshman guard Rachel Mauk sent the game into its first overtime.

There, EMU’s good shooting continued, going up three points on two different possessions and looking to take control.

But just when you thought CMU was going to fall behind, it didn’t.

Britni Houghton, who set a single-game scoring record with a career-high 38 points, hit a 3-pointer with 20 seconds remaining to tie the game at 102.

EMU had another chance to win the game, but guard Cassie Schrock missed a couple of five-foot layups before time expired, sending the game into a second overtime.

A Mauk 3-pointer, one of her five for the game, to start double overtime gave CMU a lead to maintain. And it did.

After the game, the crowd, many of which were waiting on the men’s game to start, rose to its feet with loud applause for the incredible finish both teams put on.

As CMU celebrated the tough, gut-it-out win, I realized that I had just witnessed one the best college basketball games I had ever seen.

I was wrong. Wrong to automatically associate boring with women’s basketball. Wrong to judge something before trying it.

Coach Sue Guevara said afterward that she hopes this sort of game brings people back for the team’s last regular season home game Wednesday against first place Toledo.

And it should.