CMU women's basketball struggles in season-opening loss
A dominant second half from Georgia Southern was enough to spoil the Chippewas' first game of the year
After keeping it close but playing from behind for the entire first half, Central Michigan women’s basketball found some momentum with less than two minutes to go in the second quarter.
Georgia Southern’s McKenna Eddings had other plans. With the Eagles' lead down to just four, Eddings sank back-to-back shots from deep to suck the life from the Chippewas going into halftime.
That four-point deficit was the closest the Chippewas would get for the rest of the night as Georgia Southern dominated Central Michigan for the remainder of the game enroute to a 98-72 win.
“We didn't bring the energy and effort on both ends of the ball," head coach Kristin Haynie said. "We felt like we let them dictate us when our defense is our identity, and we did not dictate. We weren't very good on the boards either.”
Georgia Southern found production from several members of the team as five of its players reached double-digits in points. The Eagles took advantage of turnovers and a three-point barrage to overwhelm the Chippewas.
Georgia Southern jumped out to a quick 9-2 lead to open the game before the Chippewas found their legs. In the first quarter alone, the Eagles took advantage of seven turnovers by the Chippewas to take a 21-15 lead into the second.
By the end of the game, Central Michigan had committed 16 turnovers, leading to 19 points for the Eagles.
"We continue to turn the ball over in practice,” Haynie said. “So we just gotta continue to work on it and get that better, clean some things up and we should start to be a little bit more sharp on offense once we start to clean up the turnovers.”
Early in the second quarter, the Eagles knocked down back-to-back three-pointers to extend their lead to 10. Georgia Southern was scorching hot from behind the arc throughout the night, knocking down 13 of its 24 shots from deep.
"We'll take some of that on the coaching staff in the first half, but we still didn't do a good enough job adjusting to that in the second half,” Haynie said. “ We gotta look at that on film and see where we can improve on.”
The two teams continued to battle, and the Chippewas brought it back within four late in the quarter before the pair of deep shots from Eddings to end the half sent the Eagles into the locker room with a 42-32 lead and all the momentum.
Georgia Southern picked up right where it left off to open the second half, knocking down a jumper to extend the lead to 12 before CMU guard Madi Morson responded with Central Michigan's first, and only, three-pointer of the game.
Morson was the lead contributor for the Chippewas throughout the night, leading the team in points with 31.
“ She did a good job attacking, getting downhill,” Haynie said. “Her mid-range is just so smooth and getting to the basket, she's so quick. So she did a really good job of continuing to put pressure on the defense by getting downhill and finishing at the rim.”
Despite the production from Morson, the Eagles exploded in the third quarter to break the game wide open. Led by a 13-point quarter from guard/forward Kishyah Anderson, Georgia Southern found success from everywhere on the court, outscoring the Chippewas 35-19 in the period and building the lead.
“Our heart wasn't there tonight,” Haynie said. “It's very disappointing because we've had such good practices and we've been locked in. To come in on their own floor and not to have the effort of the first game, I mean that's really disappointing to have to talk about our lack of effort.”
By the end of the third quarter, Georgia Southern had a 77-51 stranglehold on the game. In the end, the deficit proved too large for the Chippewas to overcome.
In addition to Morson's performance, the Chippewas found offensive production from newcomer Nekhu Mitchell, who finished with 10 points, and veterans Ayanna-Sarai Darrington and Demetria Prewitt, who both scored nine.
The only positive that Haynie took away from Tuesday's matchup was the team's shooting percentage.
“ I think the only positives we have is our shooting percentage,” Haynie said. “Shooting 50% from the field and 75% from the free-throw line, that was encouraging to see. So when we don't turn the ball over, we can score. So we gotta look to put stuff up on the offensive end. Tonight though, it was our defense that got us beat.”
Up next, the Chippewas come back home to face Davenport in Central Michigan's home opener on Sunday at 1 p.m.
