CMU women's basketball falls at home to Cleveland State
Graduate student forward Nadége Jean drives to the basket during a game against Cleveland State on Thursday, Dec. 8 in McGuirk Arena.
Up 22-18, Cleveland State added to its lead by going on a 10-0 run in the second quarter never looking back as they defeated Central Michigan women's basketball 86-55 on Thursday.
The Chippewas are 1-7 on the season.
"I thought we got completely outworked," said head coach Heather Oesterle. "You know I came in here after last game and was like we won the 50/50 battle we did all the little things. In this game, we got completely outplayed for 40 minutes."
The Vikings started off the game on an 8-0 run but the Chippewas got the three-ball rolling as freshman forward Sydney Harris and sophomore guard Lisa Tesson's three-point shots cut the deficit to four. Fouls affected the Chippewas heavily as six personal fouls sent the Vikings to the free-throw line five times in the first quarter.
CSU dominated the paint scoring 12 points compared to four for CMU in the first quarter. The Vikings outrebounded the Chippewas 13-7 in the quarter.
Although the Chippewas struggled in the paint, they let it rain from the outside shooting 4--for-8 from the three-point line. The Chippewas trailed going into the second quarter 22-18.
"If you look at their post-play, you know both of them almost had a double-double," Oesterle said. "They went inside at us in the first half I mean they're led by preseason player of the year in their conference Destiny Leo, but they just got contributions from a lot of different people.
"But the thing that got to me the most is like, I can take losing, but I can't take losing where we get outworked at things. 50 to 30 on the boards is effort and that's just we didn't play with the heart that we needed to play with today."
CMU continued to face struggles in rebounding and points in the paint as the Chippewas were outrebounded 17-6 in the second quarter, allowing the Vikings to grab seven offensive rebounds as they took a 43-24 lead going into the half.
"We couldn't score and then they went inside at us inside," Oesterle said. "Whether it was Brittni Moore driving from the high post, whether it was Amele Ngwafang we weren't fronting in the post in there and there was just to be honest, not a lot of resistance from us defensively in the post."
Harris and Tesson combined for 19 of CMU's 24 points. Tesson contributed coming off the bench scoring seven points in the first half. Harris was the only one in double figures for the Chippewas as she ended the game with 20 points.
With an 18-point lead, the Vikings went on an 11-0 run ending the third quarter ahead 68-42 while shooting 10-for-14 from the floor.
In the fourth quarter, the Vikings were able to add to their lead with a final score of 86-55.
Vikings' Brittini Moore led all player with 26 points.
The Chippewas look to bounce back Sunday when they travel to Atlanta, Georgia to take on Georgia Tech at 1 p.m.
