COLUMN: Women's basketball wins games it shouldn't
Despite turnovers and comebacks, young Chippewas find ways to win
Eight straight wins (and counting) since Jan. 20 isn’t bad for a team picked to finish fifth in the Mid-American Conference West Division.
CMU has won 13 of its last 16 games, remaining perfect at McGuirk Arena since its 64-61 loss to Memphis Dec. 15.
What’s even more impressive is how this team, which starts two freshmen and two sophomores, wins games it is not supposed to win.
Jan. 27: Three games into its winning streak, CMU trailed Western Michigan (15-10, 7-6 MAC) 51-50 at the 2:30 mark in the fourth quarter.
Then sophomore guard Amani Corley scooped up a loose ball and hit the go-ahead 3-pointer as the shot clock hit zero and the Chippewas’ defense closed it out. All this came despite 12 CMU turnovers and 18 points from preseason All-MAC Wester Miracle Woods — 14 of which came in the second half.
Feb. 3: The Chippewas finished with 25 turnovers and should have lost this game in Ypsilanti, ending their streak at four. The Eagles led by as many as 10 halfway through the third quarter, but CMU cut the difference in the fourth.
A late CMU turnover with less than five seconds remaining (its second turnover in the final 30 seconds) gave Chanise Baldwin a wide-open layup underneath the CMU basketball, but freshman forward Reyna Frost recorded the game-saving block with zero seconds remaining (as it reads on the play-by-play) to secure the win.
Feb. 6: Three days later, CMU found itself in another comeback situation, trailing Bowling Green the entire game until the 1:33 point in the fourth quarter.
It took CMU a Hudson last-second drive, scoop and score as the game clock hit zero to steal the win. A few drives earlier, she a momentum shifting rainbow 3-pointer as the shot clock expired.
Feb. 13: Once again in better-late-than-never fashion, CMU erased an 18-point second-half deficit at Northern Illinois to win its eighth straight game. CMU outscored the Huskies 30-10 in the final period to improve to 17-7 overall and 11-2 in the MAC.
It took the heroics of senior guard Da’Jourie Turner, in the fashion of 16 fourth-quarter points, to beat the Huskies.
“It wasn’t the first time we’ve been down in the season,” Turner said after the game.
Simply put: This team finds ways to win basketball games, which is a rare trait in such a young team.
They have a switch that they don’t necessarily turn off, but turn on to engage another gear.
At times, things are sloppy. Nearly 400 turnovers (387) shows the youth, but Guevara has said she wouldn’t want anyone else at the point than Hudson, who has the most minutes of any freshmen in the conference (33.0 mpg, 792 minutes this season).
She is quiet and unassumingly athletic; an even-tempered leader who evokes youth beyond her years and is the catalyst of a team featuring a frontcourt with players ranked first and second in the MAC in offensive rebounding and second in 3-point percentage.
Eight straight wins in the first two months of the New Year is impressive, but doesn’t translate into championships. Hopefully, this young team hasn’t gotten too hot or too lucky too early.
As Guevara told her team after its 18-point second half comeback against NIU, “A cat only has nine lives and we’ve used about five of them.”
