Women’s basketball hosts rival Western Michigan, Cotton out with knee injury
Western Michigan knocked the Chippewas out of the Mid-American Conference women’s basketball tournament last season. This time around, CMU hopes the outcome will be in its favor.
“The past is the past,” said CMU senior guard Chelsea Lynn. “They’re coming into our house and it’s going to be a totally different game and a totally different atmosphere.”
CMU (11-7, 5-2 MAC) welcomes WMU (12-7, 4-3 MAC) to McGuirk Arena Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Lynn said this time she expects a victory for the maroon and gold.
CMU will be without junior redshirt Jewel Cotton, who bruised her right knee in Saturday’s victory over Akron.
Cotton had an MRI on Monday and said she is “feeling pretty good” at the moment and expects to be out for a couple of weeks. Cotton tore her left ACL last year, but doesn’t see this setback as serious.
“It’s definitely nothing as severe as last season, so it’s definitely something I can handle,” Cotton said. “Just gotta go through some rehab, procedures and just take my time.”
WMU enters the game with one of the best post players in the MAC in senior forward Miracle Woods. Woods leads the Broncos in scoring averaging 13.7 points per game.
With Cotton not able to go, the Chippewas will continue to look for contributions from sophomore forward Tinara Moore and freshman forward Reyna Frost. Sophomore forward Karli Harrington will see more playing time with the absence of Cotton.
“I think that gives us a nice rotation in the post,” Guevara said. “The other thing is, they have to matchup with us.”
Junior redshirt guard Jasmine Harris, a transfer from UMass, will play her first game against the Broncos. Harris was unable to take part in the rivalry last year due to NCAA transfer rules.
“I really haven’t played in like a true rivalry game,” Harris said. “I’m very excited about it. I think we’re going to play well and come out with this win.”
For the players, the rivalry is apparent and strong, but Guevara sees it as just another game.
“We had a totally different team last year,” she said. “Not a lot the kids (on the roster) played against WMU last year. I don’t want to put all this emphasis because it’s Western Michigan. It just happens to be the next game we’re playing and we’re playing a good team.”
