CMU women's basketball upsets Purdue in comeback win
Defensive effort in the fourth paved the way for the rally
Central Michigan sophomore forward Ayanna-Sarai Darrington pushes her way towards the net as Purdue guards her at McGuirk Arena, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. Darrington scored 16 points against the Boilers. (CM-Life | Mary Nowosacki)
With the score tied at 55 and only 23 seconds left in the game, Central Michigan’s sophomore guard Madi Morson knocked down a jumper to give the Chippewas a late lead against Purdue. Morson’s basket proved to be enough as Central Michigan’s defense held on in the final seconds to upset the Boilermakers, 57-55.
In a game where Purdue held the lead for just over 36 minutes, Central Michigan used a dominant defensive performance in the fourth quarter to secure its fifth victory of the season.
“We just fought and we didn't let the first half dictate our second half,” head coach Kristin Haynie said. “We told them at halftime and in the huddles that we're gonna come back and win this game with our defense, and that's exactly what happened.”
The Boilermakers got off to a hot start in the first quarter. Purdue used a 5-7 start from the field to jump out to a quick 11-4 lead in the opening minutes of the game.
As it was against Notre Dame in the last matchup, turnovers were a problem early for the Chippewas. In the first half of the quarter, Central Michigan had given the ball away five times, giving Purdue five extra points.
The Chippewas finished with 21 turnovers on the game, giving Purdue the chance to score 23 extra points.
Purdue had built an eight point lead at the end of the first quarter, taking a 20-12 advantage into the second.
After grabbing an offensive rebound on the first possession of the second quarter, senior forward Demetria Prewitt found senior forward Nekhu Mitchell for a three-pointer to trim the lead down to five. Despite the early bucket, Central Michigan went cold from the field in the second, going 1-7 in the first five minutes of the second quarter.
Central Michigan’s shooting woes continued throughout the rest of the half. The team shot 28.6% from the field in the second quarter, making it hard for the team to chip into the Purdue lead. In the first half altogether, the team shot 34.6% from the field.
“ Our spacing was not great and we were just stagnant,” Haynie said. “We weren't moving. They were kind of doubling us on the block in the paint, and we were just watching instead of moving without the ball and cutting to the basket.”
The two teams battled it out for the remainder of the half, but the advantage on the scoreboard remained in double-digits as Purdue took a 35-25 lead into the locker room for halftime.
It was a high-powered start for both offenses coming out of the break. Purdue began the half with back-to-back layups and a set of free-throws, extending the gap on the scoreboard to 16, the largest lead the Boilermakers would have in the game.
The Chippewas, however, continued to fight. The Chippewas shot an efficient 66.7% from the field in the third quarter, including hitting two of three shots from deep in the period, much improved on the offensive end compared to the first half.
“On the offensive end, we really came together finally and played well together,” Haynie said. “I thought the first half, like I said, we were stagnant. Nobody was moving. Second half, we made a correction and we did a much better job of playing together, playing with more energy and fight.”
By the end of the third quarter, the Chippewas had begun to chip Purdue’s lead back down to single digits. A couple of buckets from sophomore forward Ayanna-Sarai Darrington had the Chippewas threatening at the end of the third, down just seven.
The Chippewas took complete control of the game on both ends of the floor in the fourth quarter. After scoring a bucket at the 8:46 mark in the fourth, Purdue was held scoreless for almost seven minutes. Defensively, Central Michigan held the Boilermakers to just two made-shots in the final period and only five points.
”We amped our pressure up and that was really good,” Haynie said. “It was hard for them. They were getting downhill on us in the first half. The second half, we made an adjustment. We finally were protecting the rim a little bit better and making them take tough shots over us, and we got our hands on more things and more deflection, so that helped ignite our offense, with our defensive stops.”
As Haynie mentioned, the Chippewas turned their defensive success into offense, forcing seven turnovers and turning the takeaways into 12 extra points in the fourth quarter.
With 3:53 left in the game, Darrington hit two free throws to give CMU its first lead of the game and send McGuirk Arena into a frenzy.
After the near seven-minute drought, the Boilermakers finally made a layup and free-throw to retake the lead with about two minutes left in the game. However, the Chippewas locked them up on defense after that and kept them scoreless for the rest of the game. On the other end of the floor, two baskets from Morson were enough to retake the lead, complete the comeback and seal the win for the Chippewas.
Darrington, who had missed the previous two games with injury, dropped a team-high 16 points in her return, seven of which were in the fourth quarter and helped to propel her team to the win.
“ I was just feeling very confident,” Darrington said. “I knew I had to go out there and do something. So, basically I was just like, I have to do it for my team, for my girls.”
“She's a post presence in there,” Haynie said. “She gets us going. Very proud of her free throws, being six for six, hundred percent. She was really locked in today and focused, so it was super helpful to have her back.
Morson was the only other Chippewa to break double-digits in scoring, ending the game with 10. Senior guard Taylor Anderson had her way on the boards, racking up 13 on the afternoon.
Sunday’s win moves Central Michigan to 5-2 on the season. Up next, the Chippewas travel down to Ann Arbor to take on the sixth-ranked Michigan Wolverines on Wednesday, with tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m. For now, however, the team is going to enjoy the win.
“ Yeah, it's great,” Haynie said. “It's just gonna build, give us confidence, we'll build off of it. We got a tough one coming up, but we'll definitely celebrate this. The team has deserved it.”
