As the fourth quarter progressed, Central Michigan women's basketball looked for shots beyond the arc to stretch their lead against long-time rivals Western Michigan on Saturday.

After missed attempts from guard Tiana Timpe, she struggled to get points on the board until the final three minutes of the fourth quarter. With CMU holding the slim advantage, the crowd erupted as Timpe not only earned her first points of the night but also secured a five-point lead late for the Chippewas.

“We all tell her to keep shooting,” head coach Kristin Haynie expressed about Timpe. “She’s a really good shooter in practice, she’s in the gym, and for her to hit that big shot was a momentum change.”

When the clock finally hit zero, CMU came out on top with a 53-45 win. As only their second win in the Mid-American Conference, the Chippewas have moved to 11th after remaining 12th for the last week.

“We have Ball State which is a really good team who’s undefeated but just like Toledo, the middle part of the MAC is up for grabs,” Haynie said. “We have one win coming into today and we talked about if we get that win, we move up in the standings…and there’s a lot of the season left.”

After coming off a disappointing loss against Ohio which saw over 30 turnovers from the Chippewas, the team was hoping to protect the ball to eliminate those chances, according to Haynie. The team had 18 turnovers compared to the Broncos’ 13.

“We’ve tried everything with turnovers,” Haynie said. “We didn’t have a goal necessarily today, I mean our goal is to always keep it under 14 turnovers. We had some moments where it was sloppy, so we just got to continue to work on that so we can stay in games.”

In previous games, CMU has been known for losing consistency in the second half, often losing leads, or continuing to trail behind other teams. However, the Chippewas were able to keep consistency, outscoring WMU 20-10 in the fourth quarter.

“The second and third quarters we couldn’t score,” Haynie said. “But we had growth in the fourth quarter. We started the game out well, we were playing defense and offense, getting stops, moving the ball, and doing a really good job of executing.”

Another contribution to this win that was overlooked according to Haynie was the fans. Over 3,000 fans were in attendance and could be heard roaring from the stands.

The Snake Pit, CMU’s student section was filled and erupted when guard Lisa Tesson exploded down the court as the last seconds of the game played out.

“The crowd was amazing,” Haynie said. “They were a big reason I think Western got rattled by their noise. They came alive in the fourth quarter, it was awesome. What a good enviorment for our players to be in.”

After its win, CMU is now 4-14 overall and 2-6 in MAC play.

“It feels good because we work hard,” Tesson said. “I know everybody on my team is in the gym (outside of) practice. We know it’s only going to get better from here.”

CMU will head on the road in hopes to stay in the win column when it travels to Oxford, Ohio to face off against Miami (Ohio) on Wednesday at 7 p.m.