Women's basketball blows past Eastern Michigan
The Central Michigan women's basketball team came into its contest with Eastern Michigan searching for confidence on the road.
On Saturday, the Chippewas were the team winning in a convincing fashion away from McGuirk Arena.
CMU (16-6 overall, 8-2 Mid-American Conference) topped the Eagles, 104-63, its largest margin of victory this season. The Chippewas improved to 3-5 on the road this season.
Junior forward Tinara Moore had a double-double to lead the Chippewas with 27 points and 13 rebounds. Moore didn't play in the fourth quarter along with the rest of the starters. All 12 active players scored for CMU.
Head Coach Sue Guevara said it all started in the first half with her players showing their dominance inside.
“In the first half I thought that Tinara (Moore), Reyna (Frost), and Jewel (Cotton) really imposed their will,” Guevara said. “Our perimeter players had looks that wouldn't go, and I said they needed to keep shooting with confidence because those same shots fell in the second half and we really got into a rhythm.”
After the first quarter, CMU’s “rhythm” lasted the entire game. The Chippewas outscored the Eagles 27-to-10 in the second quarter to take a 47-23 lead with them into the locker room.
To open the second half, CMU showed no signs of slowing down as they went on a 16-3 run. CMU led for all but 39 seconds during the game.
CMU shot just over 39 percent from 3-point range and won the rebounding battle, 53-39, with 21 of those coming on the offensive end of the floor.
Guevara said all of the players getting more minutes than normal today was an opportunity for them to prove themselves.
“This was their time to show what they have got, now do we have to get better defensively, absolutely,” she said. “I am happy with what we did. We were hungry and we played like that.”
The Chippewas held EMU to 34.7 percent shooting from the field, and held them to 5-for-21 (23.8 percent) from beyond the arc.
Five other Chippewas scored in double figures outside of Moore. Sophomore forward Reyna Frost had 15 points while adding four rebounds. Junior guard Cassie Breen tallied 10 points while adding three rebounds. Senior forward Jewel Cotton also had 10 points to go along with five rebounds.
Freshman forward Aaliah Hill and senior guard Jasmine Harris both scored a season-high 10 points.
Ball State and Northern Illinois both won today, which keeps the Chippewas in third place in the Mid-American Conference West Division.
The Chippewas will face the Huskies in a battle for the MAC West lead Wednesday at 8 p.m. at the Convocation Center.
