Chippewas unable to overcome offensive struggles against BG, eliminated from MAC tournament

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CLEVELAND – Kaihla Szunko walked off the court Friday afternoon with tears in her eyes, but the senior has had an illustrious career that might not be over just yet.

The Central Michigan women’s basketball team dropped its Mid-American Conference semifinal game against Bowling Green at Quicken Loans Arena 80-72, failing to advance to the championship game.

Szunko scored 23 points and grabbed 19 rebounds in her final conference game as a Chippewa, but early foul trouble and some bad bounces hurt the team down the stretch.

“I knew I could score on them and when I got the ball I just took it at them,” Szunko said. “We have been resilient all year and we are a hard working team. That is a trademark of our team.”

With about six minutes to play, CMU found itself down by 14 points and all hope seemed to be lost. But the team found a way to chip away at the Falcons’ lead and cut it to five with 4:21 remaining.

On the next possession sophomore Brandie Baker went up and missed a layup that would have cut the lead to three. A foul and two Lauren Prochaska free throws later and the lead was back at seven.

Senior forward Laura Baker hides her face in her shirt as she watches her team from the bench Friday. CMU was eliminated from the Mid-American Conference with its semifinal loss to Bowling Green. (Erica Kearns/Staff Photographer)

“We should have made so many more layups than we did,” said freshman Taylor Johnson, who finished with 12 points and four rebounds. “The ball just didn’t go our way this time.”

The Chippewas struggled near the basket all game, shooting just 33 percent from the field compared to 45 percent for BGSU. Senior Shonda Long, who scored 40 points in the quarterfinal game, was held to just six points.

Prochaska finished with 16 points today but it was her defense that shut down Long and made it difficult for her to find open space.

“After somebody scores 40 points you know they are going to be all up in your grill,” said head coach Sue Guevara. “I thought we were impatient today and that hurt us. We didn’t finish.”

Both teams had four players in double figures but it was Tracy Pontius who led the Falcons with 18 points. With 3:32 left a Szunko layup cut the lead back to five keeping CMU within striking distance, but Jen Uhl found Pontius outside after an offensive board and Pontius nailed a deep three. The bucket put the Falcons back up eight and seemingly ended the game.

It was a tough loss for the Chippewas who finish their season with a 20-10 overall record, but the future is bright.

Freshmen Niki DiGuilio had 12 points, with all four made field goal attempts coming from behind the 3-point line, and showed poise in her first MAC tournament.

The season may not be over for CMU. While the hopes of a MAC championship are out the window, a bid to the WNIT is still a very real possibility.

“I’m proud of our team for competing and battling an absolutely loaded, talent-wise, Central Michigan team,” said BGSU head coach Curt Miller. “They were very difficult to guard with five scorers on the floor at all times.”