Women's basketball continues to struggle on the road
Coming into the week, the goal the Central Michigan women's basketball team was to defend the 3-point shot and avoid turnovers.
They were able to play solid defense on the 3-pointer in both games, but they couldn't avoid turnovers in both, ending the week 1-1.
The Chippewas (14-5 overall, 6-1 MAC) topped Miami (OH) 80-61 on Wednesday, improving their home record to 10-1. However, the road woes continued for CMU on Saturday, as they dropped their first conference game to Buffalo 67-56, making them 2-4 in road games this season.
With Ball State and Northern Illinois both winning on Saturday, they are now in a three-way tie with CMU for first place in the Mid-American Conference West Division at 6-1.
Head Coach Sue Guevara said the upcoming week off between games should allow them to be ready for the next road game. CMU will play Toledo at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Savage Arena.
"It's a tough loss and it's always going to be tough to win on the road," Guevara said after the Buffalo game. "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.”
On Wednesday, CMU dominated for most of the contest. The Chippewas went on a 13-0 run to give them an 18-14 and cruised to a victory against the Redhawks.
It was a different story against Buffalo, however.
The Chippewas went just 1-for-15 from 3-point range and gave up 14 turnovers that allowed 24 Buffalo points.
The loss was CMU's first since the New Year began. The Chippewas are now 2-2 against the Bulls in the last two seasons.
As Guevara said, its pretty clear to see that if they're not having any success from beyond the arc, they're going to struggle winning games in the MAC.
"If you have no outside shooting, it will be hard to win any game in this conference," she 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.”
Junior forward Tinara Moore filled up the stat sheet this week for the Chippewas. Against Miami, she had a double-double with a game-high 23 points, while adding 10 rebounds and four blocks.
On Saturday, Moore got off too a hot start with 14 points in the first half, and ended up finishing with 21 points to lead her team in scoring for the second straight game.
