After Leah Purvis tallied 14 first-quarter points and the Miami Redhawks carried a 17-15 lead after the first ten minutes, the ball started falling through the hoop for the Central Michigan women's basketball team.

The Redhawks (8-11, 2-6 MAC) had won just one of their last five games heading into Saturday’s match at McGuirk Arena. The Chippewas rolled in on a three-game winning streak and a 72-58 thumping of the Redhawks in Oxford 10 days earlier in their memories.

Despite Miami being without its leading scorer Baleigh Reid, who suffered a season-ending knee injury, the Redhawks came into Mount Pleasant red hot — Purvis in particular.

The freshman guard hit three consecutive 3-pointers within the first three minutes of the game.

Her 14 points added on to by a 3-pointer from Jazz Smith put CMU down 17-15 at the end of the first quarter.

“I was in (Da’Jourie Turner’s) ear. The kid hit her first three shots,” said Head Coach Sue Guevara. “I’m glad (Turner) still has her ear because I was chewing on it pretty good because I just didn’t think she had her hips square or her hand up.”

Guevara said the team’s defensive struggles were due to the team’s help-defense switching assignments.

“When you don’t close the distance on a shooter like that and make them put the ball on the floor, that’s what’s going to happen,” Guevara said.

Miami would stay hot to start the second quarter, getting 3-point contributions from Ana Richter at 9:43, Kayla Brown at 7:35 and Jazz Smith at 4:51. The Redhawks finished the first half with eight 3-pointers on 17 attempts.

With freshmen guard Presley Hudson on the bench with two fouls and sophomore forward Cassie Breen being held scoreless in the first half, Guevara needed senior Turner and sophomore Amani Corley to produce — and they did.

The pair of guards led CMU on a 9-0 scoring run to end the first 20 minutes of play, giving CMU a 29-26 lead heading into the locker room.

Turner would get the Chippewa offense heated up again to start the third quarter. CMU extended its 8-0 run to a 26-2 run by the 3:32 mark in the third quarter and the offense didn’t cool down.

“(Turner) came out and had two great plays to start the second half,” said redshirt junior Jasmine Harris. “She’s not just scoring, she’s a point guard. She got Tinara (Moore) a great layup, got her going and she’s a senior. She’s our leader. She gets us going in that second half. We couldn’t let her down as her teammates.”

CMU outscored the Redhawks 47-28 in the second half largely made possible by Harris’ four second-half 3-pointers. The Chippewa defense also held Purvis to just four points in the second half, cruising to the 77-54 victory.

“When our shooters are on… our shooters are on, boy,” Guevara said. “It’s not just one, it’s a few of them.”

Stat Lines

Harris was 5-of-7 (71 percent) from 3-point range, finishing with 17 points — 14 of which came in the second half.

Sophomore forward Tinara Moore finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds, shooting 6-of-9 from the floor in route to her 11th double-double this season. Hudson — whose foul trouble limited her to just 26 minutes — finished with 11 points and five assists.

CMU shot 27-of-52 (51.9 percent) from the floor and 10-of-22 (45.4 percent) from 3-point range, also outrebounding the Redhawks 42-27. Freshman forward Reyna Frost had 13 of those 42 rebounds.

Despite the high offensive stats, CMU turned the ball over 15 times — five of which are accredited to Hudson.

Despite the team’s youth, Guevara said this team is one of her most coachable, accountable teams she’s had, saying they “want to practice like champions, play like champions because we want to be champions.”

“We’re halfway through the (Mid-American Conference) and we’re 7-2,” Guevara said. “With this young of a team, it is maturing daily and it’s probably one of the most coachable teams that I’ve had.”

CMU will next head down state to Ypsilanti to play Eastern Michigan Feb. 3 at 7 p.m.