Road woes continue: women's basketball loses first conference game to Buffalo
Road games in any conference are never easy to win.
It only seems fitting that the same team that ended the Central Michigan women's basketball season last year, handed CMU its first conference loss today.
Road struggles continued for the Chippewas in New York as they went 1-for-15 from 3-point range and snapped a six game winning streak, losing to Buffalo 67-56.
Head Coach Sue Guevara thought the reason for the loss was pretty obvious.
"It's pretty easy, if you have no outside shooting it will be hard to win any game in this conference," Guevara said. "We missed wide open shots all game long, and Cassie (Breen) had our only three in the first quarter. Between that and Buffalo's points off of our turnovers, it was a frustrating game."
CMU (14-5 overall, 6-1 MAC) struggled the most it has in any conference game this season on offense. Shooting 6.7 percent from beyond the arc played a huge factor, but the 14 turnovers that allowed 24 points for Buffalo killed them as well.
In the second half, CMU wasn't able to get the lead back. Every time the Chippewas could make a couple shots, Buffalo (14-4, 4-3) had an answer ready for them. CMU only scored nine points in the fourth quarter.
CMU shot just over 32 percent from the field and only 68 percent from the free throw line. The Chippewas were out played in almost every category.
Buffalo’s JoAnna Smith led all scorers with 29 points on 11-for-25 (44 percent) shooting from the field while adding five rebounds.
Two players finished in double-figures for the Chippewas today. Junior forward Tinara Moore lead the team in scoring for the second straight game with 21 points on 50 percent shooting from the field while adding seven rebounds and four assists. Senior forward Jewel Cotton had a solid game, finishing with 11 points on 3-for-4 shooting from the field and went 5-for-6 from the free throw line.
Guevara believes that her team can bounce back and that they will be ready for the next game.
"It's a tough loss and it's always going to be tough to win on the road," Guevara said. "We have a week to rest up and work on our offense. We just have to be better our next time out, it is that simple."
Ball State beat Bowling Green today, making it currently a tie between them and CMU for first place in the MAC West Division at 6-1.
CMU will stay on the road and won’t play until Saturday when they will take on Toledo. Tip will be at 4:30 p.m. from Savage Arena in Toledo.
