Preview: CMU women’s basketball excited to embark on 'revenge tour'

“ They had a sour taste in their mouth after we lost to Toledo,” Haynie said. “We were competing against the second-ranked team in the conference, and to lose by that much and how much we competed, they're like, damn, we were so close.”

Junior Taylor Johnson agreed.

Related Stories

“That loss really hit us hard, so this year we're coming back and just using that to motivate us, and we have some big goals to achieve,” Johnson said. 

Coming into this season, the team wants to take another step in the right direction and is using a central theme to motivate itself.

“Revenge tour is our theme this year,” Haynie said. “That's what they wrote on the board in the spring was (that) this is the revenge tour season.”

The goals for the season

Last season, the Chippewas went 14-17, 9-9 in conference play and made the MAC tournament for the first time since 2021.

A loss to Toledo in Cleveland in the tournament ended the run for Central Michigan. This season, Haynie wants to build off of last year’s performance and make it further into the postseason.

“The goals this year, the expectations are to make it to Cleveland and make some noise in Cleveland,” she said. “ So this year, (the goal) is to continue to win games and be better than we were last year and just make some noise when we get to Cleveland.”

A retooled roster

While the roster looks slightly different from last year, the Chippewas kept the core of the team intact. The Chippewas are returning nine of their players from last season.

“It's awesome just to keep the core group because less teaching, but still a lot of teaching,” Haynie said. “But it helps with chemistry. It just helps with flow and rhythm.” 

The returners are led by reigning MAC Freshman of the Year Madi Morson. 

Morson had a breakout year last season and was an integral part of the team, setting a CMU record for most points scored by a freshman with 511 while averaging 16.5 points per game. Morson’s work ethic over the offseason was something that stood out to Haynie, and the coach is excited to put the pieces together to support her this season.

“ It's really good to see Madi come in and not be complacent and just be like, ‘Oh, I got Freshman of the Year,’ and just not work hard this summer,” Haynie said. “She worked really hard in the offseason, so super excited to have a lot of talent surrounding her on top of her growth in her game.”

This season, Haynie wants to see Morson grow in both her rebounding and court vision skills.

“Now, with the talent you have around you is looking to make that pass,” Haynie said. “You know, there's a lot of people that are gonna be on her in the paint, so making that one more pass to find the open shooter. … Then just her rebounding. We thought she could rebound better than she did last year. So, challenging her to go to the offensive glass more when she's not back for safety and then just rebounding on the defensive end.”

Also returning for Central Michigan are the rest of the freshmen, now sophomores, that joined the team last season, including Amaya Smith, Riley Smith, Ayanna-Sarai Darrington and Jayda Mosley. 

In addition, juniors Mayla Ham and Taylor Johnson, along with seniors Demetria Prewitt and Taylor Anderson, come back to the team.

For Haynie, having the core of last year’s team return with experience means the squad is in a better place now than they were a year ago.

“We are further along right now than we were last year, and that's credit to the people that stayed,” she said. “We're just able to catch the new players up.”

In addition to the returning team members, Central Michigan welcomes five new players to the squad, two of whom Haynie highlighted for their previous postseason experience. Senior Nekhu Mitchell previously played for George Mason and helped her team to the Atlantic 10 Conference title and an NCAA Tournament appearance last season. Mitchell was drawn to CMU by the coaches and the family-like atmosphere. 

“The coaches have a lot of trust in me and I have a lot of trust in them, and I think that that was really important in choosing a program,” she said. “Then, also on my visit, my teammates were just amazing, and they made me feel at home. It feels like a sisterhood, so that is super important as well.” 

Fifth-year Zareia Chevre joins the team after leading Governors State University, a team from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, to a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference title and a NAIA Quarterfinals appearance last season. Chevre was also named to the NAIA All-America First Team in 2025.

“ Two of the players come from championship programs,” Haynie said. “That's what we look for in the portal is just that experience and winners. …  Bringing in that championship mentality was a huge goal for us.” 

Of the players who left the program, a notable departure is Jess Lawson. Lawson was a key piece of the team last season, especially when it came to getting rebounds. Lawson finished the season averaging nine rebounds per game, enough to rank her fourth in the MAC and tied for 60th in the country.

“We need everyone else to step up and fill the void with her rebounding,” Haynie said. “I thought that was our strength last year, ... rebounding, and we want to continue that even though we lost one of the top rebounders in the conference.”

Overall, Haynie believes her entire roster has improved over the course of the offseason, providing the team with depth.

“ You have your five starters, but there's also starters coming off the bench, too,” she said. “So when we sub, we don't really fall off because we're so strong. One through 14, we have just a lot of depth.”

Sticking with the team identity

Just like last season, Haynie and her squad are leaning into a team identity focused on rebounding and defense. This season, however, Haynie wants to utilize her deeper roster to make a bigger impact on the defensive side of the ball.

“We're deeper, so we wanna play more up-tempo,” Haynie said. “Defense and rebounding are our identity still, we continue to keep that, so we wanna be more disruptive on the defensive end than we did last year.”

Defense was a focus for the team over the offseason as Haynie worked to find improvement.

“ We wanted to press a little more than we did last year… and this year we have the depth,” Haynie said. “We've been working on our press since the summer. We want our defense to get better."

Out-of-conference schedule

Central Michigan’s out-of-conference schedule this season is highlighted by several games against teams from bigger conferences. At the end of November, the Chippewas travel down to Indiana to play Notre Dame, then host Purdue, travel to Michigan and then play at Kentucky, all in the span of two weeks.

“ If you wanna be the best, you got to play against the best, right?” Haynie said. “It's also just getting us prepared for the MAC conference. We are playing against really good players, very, very talented, and we just wanted our players to have that experience and have a tough non-conference schedule to get us ready for conference.” 

The Chippewas open their season with an exhibition game on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. against Schoolcraft College before officially getting the campaign started with a game against Georgia Southern on Monday, Nov. 3.

Even though she hasn’t been with the team for long, Mitchell thinks this squad has what it takes to win big.

“ I truly believe we have all the characteristics of a championship team already,” she said. “I think it's about just showing up and doing it every day. I already believe that we have that fight, that drive, that competitiveness and that will to win. So I'm really excited about this season.”

As the team approaches the campaign with that “revenge tour” mindset, the squad is bringing with it the proof that they can win.

“ A big lesson that we learned from last year, especially in Cleveland, was this is possible and we can do it (make it to the tournament),” Johnson said. “ Coming into this year, a big lesson we're learning is just perseverance, and hey, we were able to do it, we can do it again.”