Young women’s basketball team sits atop MAC west standings, proving doubters wrong
Sue Guevara knew something nobody else did about her team when the 2015-16 women’s basketball campaign began.
The Central Michigan women’s basketball team was picked to finish fifth in the Mid-American Conference West Division, according to a preseason poll of the 12 conference head coaches.
However, the Chippewas (15-7, 9-2 MAC) have shocked the conference by running off six consecutive wins, vaulting them to the top of the MAC West standings.
A year after losing three 1,000-point scorers and arguably the best player in program history, Crystal Bradford, the young Chippewas have put themselves in a position for a potential top seed in the MAC tournament.
It’s been a surprise to many based on the experience — or lack thereof — CMU has. The Chippewas have four upperclassmen and 10 underclassmen.
With the emergence of two freshmen and two sophomores, the Chippewas have been the surprise team in the conference and have the longest winning streak in the MAC.
Freshmen Presley Hudson and Reyna Frost have come out of nowhere to be key factors in the offense and on the glass, while sophomores Cassie Breen and Tinara Moore have improved from their rocky first years in the program.
“We believe in each other,” Frost said. “We’re strong enough to push through, even though we’re young.”
Guevara said Frost has had so much playing time, she's essentially a sophomore.
“It’s unbelievable,” Guevara said. “With the youth of this team, they don’t play like freshmen and sophomores. They just don’t.”
The key to the resurgence for CMU has been those younger players.
Moore has been dominant in conference play, recording 11 double-doubles and averaging 17 points and 12 rebounds per game. Hudson leads the team in scoring with 15 points per game.
Breen has been a consistent shooter and averages 13 points per contest, while Frost is third in the MAC in rebounding.
“We can play with anybody in this league,” Guevara said. “If you look at everything we lost, I get it. (The media) had no idea what our freshmen were going to be like. They had no idea what Tinara Moore and Cassie Breen had done over the summer to work on their games.”
With so many young players contributing at key moments, it has been the outcome Guevara hoped for coming into the season.
“I wouldn’t trade them for anybody,” Guevara said. “We have a nice blend. The belief in each other, the chemistry and the intangibles are there with this team.”
The true test of a championship caliber team is finding different ways to win, and the Chippewas have done just that.
During their winning streak, the Chippewas have won three games by an average of 19.3 points and three games decided by two points or less.
Their most recent victory, a 76-75 buzzer-beater win over Bowling Green, showed the team can win games when it doesn’t play well — even when the other team makes 11 3-point attempts in a row.
“It would have been easy to fold and it would’ve been easy to put your head down,” Guevara said. “It’s nice to see this team get better and find ways to win in different situations.”
The Chippewas have put their heads down, but in a good way, plowing through tough opponents to land one game behind Ohio for the top spot in the league.
CMU has shown ability to come from behind even when its shots aren't falling and the team gets off to slow starts.
"Sometimes our shots aren't falling, and that's when (the slow starts) happen," Hudson said. "But that's when we have to keep playing."
CMU’s next game is with Ball State, the second-place team in the MAC West. The Cardinals are 8-2 in conference play, a half game behind the division-leading Chippewas.
“I don’t want to get caught up in the standings,” Guevara said. “I don’t want our team to do that either because then you start looking ahead. The next game we play has to be Ball State. We’re just looking at it one game at a time.”
A win on Wednesday at Ball State would not only extend CMU’s winning streak — which is the longest since the team won 12 straight in 2013-14 — but it would also move the Chippewas one step closer to a favorable seed in the MAC tournament.
“These kids work their tails off and it’s paying off,” Guevara said. “And we’re not done because they’ll continue to work.”
