Without Davis and Martinez, Chippewas lean on youth in Senior Day loss
After sparking a noticeable murmur in McGuirk Arena following a contested layup, Central Michigan freshman Karrington Gordon continued laying into the Eastern Michigan defense in the fourth quarter.
People were on the edge of their seats as the scoreboard read 68-55, when Gordon caught the ball in the half-court.
Immediately, she stepped away from her defender and behind the three-point line. Once she had room, Gordon put the ball between her legs, pulled up and drilled a deep shot, sending the home crowd into a frenzy.
Gordon’s energy sparked a barrage of deep balls from CMU women’s basketball. However, it wasn’t enough to overcome a sluggish first half, as the Eagles secured the series sweep with an 83-70 win on Saturday.
“I thought we played better the second half, but again, it’s just putting four quarters together and I thought we really came out flat,” Head Coach Heather Oesterle said. “And so I’m thinking in my mind, maybe start the game trapping a little bit more, picking up the pressure a little bit defensively, getting some of those hustle plays to get us going offensively because the ball wasn’t really moving and we looked like we were still in bed, so have to get out to a better start.”
After honoring seniors Kalle Martinez and Jahari Smith before the game, the Chippewas took the floor in white uniforms adorned by bright-pink numbers with #BEATCANCER across the bottom to honor Breast Cancer Awareness.
For the second time this season, CMU was without leading-scorer Molly Davis. However, this time it wasn’t a game-time decision.
“Wednesday night after our Akron game,” Oesterle said. “I watched her at shootaround that morning, and then it took a while for her to warm up her body for the game, and then after halftime, she was not the same Molly. So I told the team, after the game, that she wasn’t going to play on Saturday. I don’t know how long she’s going to be out, this could be, you know she could be back for Toledo, and she might not be back for Toledo. I’m not going to beat her into the ground, especially when she’s hurting.”
Down to seven uniformed players, the Chippewas had to rely heavily on their freshmen for an answer. But they struggled with ball control throughout the contest, resulting in 18 turnovers.
“We definitely missed (Davis’) ball handling in there, especially in the first half when we had 12 turnovers,” Oesterle said. “I thought we were a little intimidated by their pressure, and we had (Lisa Tesson) and (Hanna Knoll), were our two ball handlers in the game, so we missed a ball-handler with her out. We had four people in double-figures, and I always like to see that, four-or-five people in double-figures, that means the ball’s moving and we’re sharing the basketball. But it really came down to the defensive end of the floor and us being able to get stops. We were trying to really protect the paint and they scored 56 points in the paint. We tried zone and we tried man, and it comes down to keeping somebody in front of us.”
Going into the game shorthanded freshman Tiana Timpe knew everyone needed to step up. Timpe finished the game with 18 points while shooting 6-for-8 from deep.
“Mostly, just taking care of the ball, and for us freshmen, we had to step up, definitely,” Timpe said. “When we played Miami, without them, I thought we stepped up a lot. In this game, we struggled a little bit coming out, and then we eventually, in the second half, started to wake up a little bit. But it was too late by then. I think it was a good experience for us, you know having two games without (Davis) because when she leaves it’s just going to be us five again. So it’s definitely a good experience without her, but we also need her, we very much need her.”
Down big, the Chippewas continued to fight, but Timpe believes the team needs to work on its mindset in adverse situations.
“I think whenever we start making mistakes and they start getting a lead, we act like we’re down 50,” Timpe said. “Sometimes we get internal with ourselves, including me, I have to work on that. Again, we just have to take a step back and look at the scoreboard, and be like, ‘we have 20 more minutes left, we’re still in this. Definitely, something I have to work on personally, and something the team has to work on.”
Once CMU returned to the court following halftime, they began applying pressure on the Eagles. This turned into a sustained run for the Chippewas.
“I think it was just ball movement and composure,” Timpe said. “We had to take a deep breath and step back a little bit. Sometimes we call it, ‘fake defense,’ where they’re always talking and getting up on you, and we have to know that that’s not real, it’s just like any other defense, so just having composure.”
Gordon finished with a career-high 14 points and two rebounds. Tesson recorded a career-high eight rebounds while notching 11 points.
With four games remaining in the season, a berth in the Mid-American Conference slipping through its grasp, Oesterle says the players haven’t let that change their mindset.
“People ask me, ‘how have they’ve been mentally,’ since we’ve had a tough year, I mean no secret, we’re very, very, very young,” Oesterle said. “We actually had a guy a couple of weeks ago, walk into our practice, he’s doing some leadership stuff with our team, but he said, ‘he would never have guessed our team had the record they had,’ because everybody still has got a lot of energy.
"I think that everybody, and I’m working on it, seeing the bigger picture, with getting these freshmen experience and what it’s gonna look like next year when we start clicking again and we get people that have experience playing together. It’s a lot different when you look at Eastern and they have kids that have played together for the last three or four years and they have eight seniors on their roster, it looks a little different. We’re still working at it, to get playing really well together.”
