Women's hoops set for MAC showdowns against Akron, Buffalo
Central Michigan guard Micaela Kelly high-fives coaches before a game against Eastern Michigan March 7 at McGuirk Arena.
Fresh off a nail-biting 90-87 road win against Ohio, CMU’s women’s basketball team continues its tour of what was formerly the Mid-American Conference East Division.
The Chippewas (5-2, 3-0 MAC) look to remain undefeated in conference action, hosting Akron (3-3, 0-3) at 2 p.m. Wednesday in McGuirk Arena and travel to New York for a tilt with Buffalo (6-2, 3-0) on Saturday.
Kelly honored
Senior guard Micaela Kelly earned the MAC Player of the Week Tuesday. The Detroit native and reigning MAC Player of the Year scored 28 points, six rebounds and four assists in CMU’s win over the Bobcats on Saturday.
Leading the Chippewas
Kelly is averaging a team-best 23.7 points per game, good enough to rank second in the MAC and 13th in the country. Her 22 made 3-pointers and her 12 steals are the most by a Chippewa this season.
Sophomore guard Molly Davis is averaging just shy of 18 points a game to go with a .458 shooting percentage while making just over 36 percent of her shots from long range. Senior Maddy Watters leads the Chippewas with a .541 3-point percentage.
Senior forward Kyra Bussell averages a team-best seven rebound per contest to go with 13.3 points.
Scouting
Akron enters Wednesday’s game at 3-3, with the average margin of defeat at 7.6 points against Buffalo, Ball State and Toledo, holding lead in the fourth quarter in two of those games. CMU has won the previous six matchups.
Senior Jordyn Dawson leads Akron in both scoring, averaging 17.5 points per game and rebounding with just under nine boards per contest. Sophomore Lonasia Brewer is second in both categories, averaging 14.8 points and 6.3 rebounds a game.
The Zips shoot 43 percent from the floor, trailing only CMU’s 45 percent for the conference lead. Akron’s 36.6 percent from 3-point range ranks third in the MAC.
Against Buffalo, the Chippewas have won five of the last seven regular season matchups and seven of the last 10 overall.
Buffalo last defeated CMU 82-77 in the 2019 MAC Tournament while dropping the latest meeting 98-93 in a double-overtime thriller.
The Bulls’ only losses to VCU (3-5) and Purdue (5-2) were on the road. Buffalo enters its matchup at Eastern Michigan on Wednesday winners of its last four games.
Sophomore guard Dyaisha Fair leads the Bulls in scoring, averaging 22.4 points per contest to go with 5.8 assists and is one of two Buffalo players to start all eight games this season.
Coming soon
The Chippewas travel to DeKalb, Illinois for a clash with Northern Illinois on Jan. 13 and return to McGuirk Arena on Jan. 16 for round two against the Bobcats.
