Heather Oesterle earns first win as head coach
Heather Oesterle looked at the video board in McGuirk Arena. A special message was being played.
Former Central Michigan players offered their words of congratulations and appreciation for a woman who served as an assistant coach for nine seasons under former coach Sue Guevara.
Oesterle secured the first victory of her collegiate career as a head coach.
And it occurred dramatically, an 81-80 overtime thriller over Dayton on Thursday at McGuirk Arena.
Oesterle took over the helm of the program following Guevara's retirement in July.
Following three-straight losses to open the season, she finally got the highly coveted first win.
"I'm more excited for the players," Oesterle said. "We knew this game wasn't going to be easy, none of our nonconference or conference games will be."
Freshman guard Molly Davis was the first Chippewa that Oesterle noticed celebrating. It's Davis' first victory since arriving from Midland Dow High School.
After the Chippewas made a defensive stand against the Flyers with 5.8 seconds to play, Davis was in charge of running out the clock. She jogged around the backcourt until the horn sounded.
That's when she launched the basketball into the air.
"It was exciting definitely," Davis said. "Getting that first collegiate win, but it doesn't stop here. I'm really excited."
Davis' fellow guard, junior Micaela Kelly, notched a career-high 29 points which included all 10 points the Chippewas scored in overtime against Dayton.
Kelly, who was named captain by her teammates in the preseason, applauded her squad for sticking it out until the end and grinding out a much-needed win.
”We got the dub, we got the first one for (Oesterle),” Kelly said. “We just were tired of losing, we got to come together and dig deep."
Oesterle's first win at the helm did not come without a waiting period. Central Michigan dropped its first three games against Green Bay (111-105), No. 9 Louisville (76-63) and Western Kentucky (93-58) before taking the win over the Flyers.
Central Michigan can handle adversity based on learning from the losses early in the season. Most of that has come in the rebounding department, which Oesterle knew was a role the team would need help in this year after losing Reyna Frost, the Mid-American Conference career rebound leader.
"We're getting exposed because we're playing the top teams in the country," Oesterle said. "Rebounding, we've been exposed in rebounding the first three games and coming into this game, we knew we had to either keep it close on the boards or outrebound them."
Central Michigan outrebounded Dayton, 43-40, to help in securing the win.
Putting the first win under her belt has Oesterle and the Chippewas on the right path to success.
They set their goals well before the season began, and those hopes haven't changed.
"We want to cut down the nets, we want another ring ceremony," Oesterle said. "We have the pieces to compete on the national stage again. The expectations don't change for this group."
