There was a time when CMU women’s basketball coach Sue Guevara doubted her ability to continue coaching at the collegiate level.

Guevara lost her mother in 2002 and later resigned as head coach at the University of Michigan on March 24, 2003, after a pair of losing seasons.

The CMU men’s basketball team seeks to beat Fairleigh Dickinson for the second consecutive season Saturday.

The teams play at 7 p.m. in Teaneck, N.J., in CMU’s first road game of the season.
The Chippewas defeated the Knights 68-62 on Feb. 21 in Rose Arena in the team’s Bracketbuster game.

The CMU women’s basketball team will open its home schedule after two consecutive road losses in Illinois to start the season.

CMU (0-2) plays Loyola-Chicago, a team that beat the Chippewas 87-82 on Dec. 18 last year, at 2 p.m. Saturday in Rose Arena.

CMU women’s basketball coach Sue Guevara has utilized the early signing period ­— Nov. 11-18 — to land three recruits for next season.

High school seniors Lauren Bellamy (Davison High School/Davison, Mich.), Nichole DiGuilio (Mount Vernon High School/Mount Vernon, Ohio) and Taylor Johnson (Belding High School/Belding, Mich.) have signed national letters of intent to play for CMU, beginning with the 2010-11 season.

Freshmen Jalisa Olive and twins Stefanie and Rachel Mauk could have their presence felt immediately in the backcourt of the CMU women’s basketball team.

With a blend of youth and experience at the guard positions, Olive said the group has yet to gel.

The CMU women’s basketball team was expecting big things from its experienced frontcourt coming into the season.

However, those expectations changed in September, when Mid-American Conference Freshman of the Year Brandie Baker went down with a torn ACL injury in her left knee. It required surgery, and she had to miss the entire 2009-10 season.

The women’s basketball team could not dig itself out of a first-half hole Wednesday in a 77-59 loss to the University of Illinois before 865 in Assembly Hall.

Quickly falling behind 8-0 at the game’s onset, CMU (0-2) trailed 46-23 at halftime on 29.6 percent shooting from the field. Illinois (2-1) shot 46.7 percent from the field in the first half, going 4-for-12 in three-point field goals, and 43.1 percent for the game.

A strong defensive effort led the men’s basketball team against the University of Illinois-Chicago in a 67-48 victory Wednesday in Rose Arena.

CMU (2-1) held the Flames to just 26.9 shooting and outrebounded UIC 47-29.