History: Women's basketball wins first ever NCAA Tournament game against LSU
Central Michigan Womens basketball team cheers during the basketball game against Louisiana State University on March 17 at St. John Arena.
It took 50 years, but the Central Michigan women's basketball team is finally moving on from the round of 64 in the NCAA Tournament.
Mid-American Conference Player of the Year and senior Tinara Moore finished with a team-high 25 points as 11th-seed CMU (29-4 17-1 MAC) upset sixth-seed LSU (19-10, 11-5 SEC) 78-69 March 17 in Columbus, Ohio.
This was CMU's first program win in the NCAA Tournament.
"I'm so grateful to be in the NCAA Tournament, I'm so grateful that we got this win under our belt," Moore said. "I'm also staying composed because we have another game to go."
Four CMU starters hit double figures in the historic win over LSU — freshman Micaela Kelly picked up 17 points and juniors Presley Hudson and Reyna Frost each added 12.
"I can't say enough about our players," said head coach Sue Guevara. "Our players came out and threw the first punch and we just kept going."
CMU jumped out to an early 25-16 lead over LSU at the end of the opening quarter after a 10-point first quarter performance from Hudson, who began the game 2-of-4 from 3-point range.
LSU’s defense returned in the second quarter — holding CMU to just 28.6 percent shooting from the field while outscoring the Chippewas 22-15. Heading into the half, the once 12-point CMU lead diminished to only two points, 40-38.
"During that second quarter punch, we had a couple of unforced turnovers in trying to make things happen too quickly," Guevara said. "We kept our composure and made a couple of changes at halftime."
Holding the Tigers to only 14.3 percent shooting from 3-point range and 40 percent from the field, CMU outscored LSU 38-31 in the second half to seal the victory.
"I knew they were pretty similar to me, they're pretty fast and they can shoot," Kelly said. "They pushed the ball and we knew we just had to get used to them to control and stop their penetration."
For Guevara, the win is simply a reflection of the game plan execution, which called for battling on the boards. CMU out-rebounded LSU, 40-27.
"We talked about the two things we had to do to be successful and one of them was rebounding," Guevara said. "You just saw the toughness of (Moore) and (Frost), they were tenacious and they went after it."
Freshman Kyra Bussell saw some productive minutes for CMU after Frost picked up her fourth foul with just over eight minutes to play. Bussell finished with four points and two rebounds, an effort Frost later commended.
"It was hard because I couldn't be on the floor," Frost said. "But, you see that Kyra Bussell came in and she gave us great minutes, she made her free throws, she was getting rebounds."
Guevara stressed how beneficial a win like this on a national stage will pay in dividends for her program.
"For all the recruits that are out there, hey, you can come to Central Michigan and play in the NCAA Tournament and win games," Guevara said.
CMU plays Ohio State at 6:30 p.m. March 19 in Columbus, Ohio in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The game is on ESPN2.
