Women’s basketball prepares for pivotal game against Ball State
After falling to Toledo 81-79 on Saturday, the Central Michigan women’s basketball team finds itself in a competition for the top spot in the Mid-American Conference West Division.
The loss snapped CMU’s eight-game winning streak and tightened up the battle for the No. 2 seed in the MAC Tournament.
CMU sophomore forward Aleah Swary said the team hasn’t let the loss affect their mentality.
“I don’t think we lost any confidence,” Swary said. “We know whether we win or lose, we all come out here and play hard and out mindset doesn’t change. We’re still coming out and attacking.”
The Chippewas (17-8, 11-3 MAC) take on Ball State (18-7, 10-4 MAC) Wednesday at McGuirk Arena at 7 p.m. CMU is one game ahead of the Cardinals and the Rockets.
At the beginning of the season, the Chippewas were picked to finished fifth in the MAC West according to the preseason poll, but teams no longer see them as an underdog heading into the final four games.
“We’re not surprising people,” said Head Coach Sue Guevara. “We’re getting the A game and we need to have our A game.”
CMU defeated Ball State on Feb. 10 in Muncie, Indiana and holds the tiebreaker over the Cardinals.
However, Toledo currently holds the tiebreaker over CMU. A loss by CMU and a win by Toledo on Wednesday would drop the Chippewas out of the top spot in the West.
Despite the standings battle, Guevara has tried to keep her team focused on each game and not on their positioning.
“Yeah, people are chasing us,” Guevara said. “They want to be where we are, but it’s one game at a time, and I want to make sure that’s not what they’re focused on, but that they’re focused on the process and what they need to do to get better.”
While CMU is the team to catch in the standings, the Chippewas have found themselves as the chasers in several games.
In three of its last four matchups, CMU has had to overcome double-digit first quarter deficits, going 2-1 in those games, with two of those slow starts coming against teams with losing records.
“We know what we need to correct,” Guevara said. “Sometimes when you start to feel the pressure, you press, and you make mistakes you don’t normally make and it’s people that don’t normally make mistakes.”
The Chippewas have focused on preventing sluggish starts as the regular season begins to come to a close and seeding becomes paramount.
“I’m not sure why it is,” said sophomore guard Amani Corley about the slow starts. “We have been doing that in practice and coach has been getting on us about that, so with her saying it over and over, we’ll understand.”
CMU used a quick start to defeat Ball State on the road earlier in the season. In that game, CMU jumped out to a 26-15 lead in the second quarter and led by as many as 15 in the fourth quarter.
“I expect (Ball State) to come in guns blazing,” Guevara said. “We got off to a really good start against them (last game), so I’m looking for us to get a good start like we did before and understand and execute the game plan.”
