WMU’s zone hounds Central

Daniel Abbey

KALAMAZOO —Western Michigan’s Casey Rost was struggling to find her shot against the women’s basketball team Saturday.

She was 1-for-10 from the field with 4:45 remaining in the game and WMU leading 43-40.

Rost, the 2004 Mid-American Conference Player of the Year, hit consecutive three-pointers and a long two-pointer to propel the Broncos to a 58-50 win against Central Saturday.

“A veteran player like that steps it up,” said CMU coach Eileen Kleinfelter. “That’s her specialty; she’s an outstanding three point shooter.”

Central (9-3 overall, 0-1 MAC) had no answer for Rost and had trouble scoring, shooting only 25.8 percent from the floor.

Western’s zone defense gave CMU trouble throughout the game. It forced it to take numerous perimeter shots and was able to only make 3-of-16 from three point range.

“The zone gave us trouble; we didn’t have anyone to step up and take a shot,” Kleinfelter said. “Our post play was pretty good, it was extremely physical in there and I’m really pleased with how we rebounded.”

Central switched to a full court press with about 10 minutes remaining to help cut the lead to three, but then Rost started scoring.

The Chippewas were up 15-11 in the first half, but Western went on an 18-3 run to end the half. CMU was 1-for-10 shooting the last seven minutes of the half.

Western held CMU’s top scorer junior Ann Skufca to 11 points and seniors Chasidy Myers and Casey Manning were held to a combined 14 points.

“We did what we needed to do defensively,” said Western coach Ron Stewart. “We wanted to stop Central from getting any up-tempo baskets and stop them from slashing to the basket and getting points in the paint.”

The Chippewas out-rebounded Western 52-34, including 23 offensive rebounds, but could not capitalize on many second chances.

Despite out-rebounding Western and holding the highest scoring team in the Mid-American Conference to 33 percent from the field, Central could not get its own shots to fall.