CMU women’s basketball falls to WMU in rivalry matchup
After scoring only eight points in the first quarter, Central Michigan women’s basketball failed to mount a comeback, falling in a rivalry matchup against Western Michigan, 71-60, in McGuirk Arena on Saturday.
The Chippewas are now 3-12 overall and 1-3 in Mid-American Conference play. The Broncos are 7-8 overall and 2-2 in the MAC.
“I was disappointed in our effort from the start of the game,” said head coach Heather Oesterle. “I just told the team coming out of yesterday, this was like our best practice of the year. We had so much energy, and then even (the) shoot around this morning at 8:30, I was like, 'OK, it's gonna be a good day.' And then we just come out flat.”
CMU freshman Taylor Anderson booked her first career double-double, securing 15 points and 12 rebounds. Freshman guard Bridget Utberg led the Chippewas in scoring with 21 points after going 8-of-14 from the field.
Turnovers have been an issue for the Chippewas, as they have committed 264 turnovers compared to their opponents 198 coming into the matchup against the Broncos.
The turnover issue continued against WM, with the Chippewas committing 24 turnovers compared to the Broncos' 10.
“It absolutely is some carelessness with the ball,” Oesterle said. “There's twice, I think it went right through Rochelle’s (Norris) hands and Syd (Harris) just wasn't sharp. We weren't sharp. … The turnovers, that was unacceptable.”
After being outrebounded 43-26 against Bowling Green on Wednesday, the Chippewas bounced back on Saturday and beat the Broncos on the boards 47-36. However, Oesterle still feels there is work that needs to be done there.
“We got to do a better job,” Oesterle said. “I was actually surprised when I'm looking at this that we outrebounded them. We did better the second half rebounding. (Anderson) makes a big difference on the boards. It's just ripping it out of somebody's hands. And that's one thing: We didn't want to get out muscled today.”
The Broncos jumped out to an early 12-3 lead to begin the first quarter following a 10-0 run. After a timeout, the Chippewas regained some momentum, putting up five-straight points, but WMU kept CMU scoreless for the last two minutes of the quarter to maintain its lead, 17-8.
“I just think that we start off a lot of our games flat,” Anderson said. “And if we come out with a great energy at the beginning, then we won't have to work so hard to come back.”
With both teams coming out to a slow start in the second quarter, the Broncos hit back-to-back three-pointers to extend their lead to double-digits, leading to a CMU timeout. After the timeout, Utberg put the team on her back and secured seven points in the final three minutes of the half. However, the Broncos started to find the basket, and put up 16 points in the final three minutes, going into halftime with the 41-28 lead.
The Broncos continued their momentum into the second half and secured the first seven points of the third quarter to take a 48-28 lead. With two minutes left in the quarter, the Chippewas found some momentum and ended the third on a 7-2 run to cut into the WMU lead, 57-41.
The Chippewas got their inside game going with junior center Rochelle Norris securing 10 points in the fourth quarter after being quiet for the first three. However, the CMU defense struggled to stop WMU, and the Broncos maintained their lead throughout the fourth quarter to hand CMU the loss.
The Chippewas look to bounce back when they travel to Ohio as they take on Akron at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
