CMU women’s basketball continues struggle on road with loss to Milwaukee
CMU's sophomore guard Taylor Anderson shoots the ball while Concordia-Ann Arbor's freshman guard Ellery Baker defends the Cardinal's net during the women's basketball game against Concordia-Ann Arbor Tuesday, Nov. 14 in McGuirk Arena. Anderson scored 12 points and 10 rebounds. (Ella Miller | CM Life)
Looking to strike first for Central Michigan women’s basketball, junior guard Tiana Timpe nailed a three-point shot to give CMU some momentum to start the game against Milwaukee on Saturday.
Freshman guard Tamara Ortiz kept the scoring going, hitting three-straight shots to put the Chippewas ahead 9-4 early. However, the head start didn’t last long as CMU was outscored in every quarter against the Panthers, leading to its fourth loss in five games as Milwaukee secured the 84-59 win.
The Chippewas move to 1-4 overall as they have yet to secure a road win to begin the season, going 0-4 in opponents' territory.
CMU continued its struggles beyond the three-point line, going 2-for-17 from beyond the arc. On the other side, the Panthers dominated the outside game, tying a program record with 17 three-pointers on 32 attempts as 51 of their points came from deep.
With limited success coming from the outside game, the Chippewas relied on their inside players on offense as graduate forward Nadége Jean led the team in scoring with 13 points while also securing a team high eight rebounds and three steals.
Senior center Rochelle Norris also made an impact on the inside, securing 11 points and eight rebounds.
One aspect of the game that went in CMU’s favor was its rebounding, a bright spot for the Chippewas to open the season. In the game against Milwaukee, CMU outrebounded the Panthers 41-28.
After Ortiz secured three-straight buckets for the Chippewas to give them the small lead, the Panthers started to find their stride as they put up six unanswered points to give them their first lead of the day, 15-11.
Milwaukee hit another shot with time winding down in the first quarter to give them the 20-15 lead heading into the second.
Jean put the team on her back to begin the second quarter, securing two steals and five points for the Chippewas to tie the game at 20 with seven minutes remaining before the half.
However, CMU couldn’t capture the lead as the Panthers outscored the Chippewas 17-9 for the rest of the quarter, hitting four three pointers in the quarter to take the eight-point advantage heading into the half.
Milwaukee continued its scoring performance in the second half, outscoring the Chippewas 47-30 in the final two quarters to give the Panthers their fourth-straight victory.
CMU struggled with turnovers as it had 23 compared to Milwaukee's 15. The Panthers capitalized off of the mistakes, having 21 points off of turnovers.
The Chippewas will look to rebound as they return to McGuirk Arena on Saturday to take on Indiana State at 1 p.m.
