CMU women’s basketball loses to Akron
Central Michigan women’s basketball started out hot jumping to a 15-2 lead in the first quarter against Akron. However, the Zips fought back outscoring CMU 50-34 in the second half, to defeat the Chippewas 80-65 on Wednesday.
The loss marks four-straight for the Chippewas as they fall to 3-13 overall and 1-4 in Mid-American Conference play. Akron is now 13-3 overall and 4-1 in the MAC.
“I thought we got off to a really good start, (but) then we got to be able to play four quarters,” said head coach Heather Oesterle. “We put them at the free throw line a lot. I knew that was one of our goals was to keep them off the line, so we just got to be able to play four quarters. We played a great first half.”
Junior center Rochelle Norris secured a double-double in the matchup, putting up 14 points and 13 rebounds for CMU.
“She's very hard to guard,” Oesterle said. “You're looking at one of the best post players in the MAC on Akron's team, and she did a really nice job against her on both ends of the floor. So, she's tough to guard if we just get her in a little bit better shape to be able to run the floor for a decent amount of the game.”
Freshman guard Bridget Utberg led in the scoring column for the Chippewas with 16 points along with three assists and two offensive rebounds.
The Chippewas started with 10 straight points to get out to a 15-2 lead to begin the first quarter. Following the promising start for CMU, the Zips shot back with an 8-0 run in the final two minutes of the quarter to cut the deficit to five with a score of 17-12.
“I've been on them about certain things, and I was proud that they responded,” Oesterle said. “Because after last Saturday, that was not a good performance for our program, so they knew my expectations, and I was proud of the way we started.”
After trading buckets to begin the second quarter, the Zips went on an 8-1 run at the halfway mark to get within one. With under a minute remaining, Akron hit two free throws to take its first lead of the night, but the Chippewas answered right back with a layup to take a 31-30 lead into halftime.
At the start of the second half, the Zips hit a 3-pointer to jumpstart a 9-0 run. Akron continued its momentum and tallied nine-straight points to take a 50-39 lead with three minutes left in the third. The Zips outscored the Chippewas 27-12 in the quarter to give them the 57-43 lead heading into the fourth.
Akron continued to extend its lead throughout the fourth quarter until CMU went on a 7-0 run with three minutes remaining in the game. However, the Chippewas run was too late as time ran out giving the Zips the win.
CMU takes on Ball State at 1 p.m. on Saturday as it continues on the road traveling to Muncie, Indiana.
