CMU women's basketball trampled by the Marshall Thundering Herd
Chippewas fail to stave off comeback attempt in non-conference matchup
The Central Michigan University women’s basketball team fell against the Marshall University Thundering Herd 88-81at McGuirk Arena on Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. The team will host Akron for Black History Month Night at McGuirk Arena on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (CM-Life | Jasmine Brookins)
With under a minute left in the game, Central Michigan women’s basketball had battled its way to within three points of its opponent and was looking for a defensive stop to keep the hopes of a win alive.
Instead, Marshall’s redshirt sophomore Timberlynn Yeast scored a basket and drew the foul. After sinking the free throw, Marshall found itself up six points, a deficit Central Michigan was unable to overcome.
The Chippewas and the Thundering Herd met on Saturday for the second round of the Mid-American Conference-Sun Belt Conference Challenge.
After the first half of the game, it was the Chippewas in control. However, Marshall used a dominant third quarter to pull ahead, leading to the eventual 88-81 win.
The loss brings Central Michigan's overall record to 14-8.
Turnovers were a major problem for Central Michigan. The Chippewas gave the ball away a total of 23 times, leading to 37 extra points for the Thundering Herd.
“We gotta take care of the ball,” head coach Kristin Haynie said. “We gotta figure that out. We gotta keep it simple and be stronger with the ball. Turnovers and then them getting second-chance points in the second half is what hurt us.”
Marshall was powered to the win by a career-high 36 points from senior Timaya Lewis-Eutsey, who came into the matchup averaging a team-high 18.1 points-per-game this season.
The Chippewas kept her somewhat at bay in the first half, holding her to just nine points. In the second half, however, Lewis-Eutsey exploded for 27 points, the driving force behind her team’s comeback win.
“ She was just getting downhill on us and we just couldn't keep her in front and make her take tough shots over us,” Haynie said. “She got angles on us to get downhill and just bury us in the paint.”
Three other Marshall players scored double-digits. Senior Meredith Maier scored 19 points, nearly all of which came from shots behind the 3-point line. Yeast finished the game with 12 and senior Peyton Ilderton scored 10.
For the Chippewas, sophomore Madi Morson scored the most with 27 points, followed by sophomore Ayanna-Sarai Darrington with 16.
The first half of basketball saw the Chippewas in control in several aspects of the game. The offense shot 52.9% from the field and dished out 11 assists.
Rebounds were a highlight for Central Michigan, at least in the first two quarters. The Chippewas crashed the glass for 25 total rebounds compared to Marshall’s 10. Senior Taylor Anderson was responsible for 10 boards, finishing the game with 15 for her ninth double-digit rebounding game of the season.
The Chippewas did struggle to defend the 3-point shot. The Thundering Herd went 7 of 15 from deep in the first half and used the success to negate a couple big Chippewa runs and keep the game close. In the game as a whole, Marshall shot 37.5% from deep.
“We weren't guarding ‘em how we were supposed to guard 'em, and that's really what it is,” Haynie said. “So, we gotta just be disciplined, stick to our defensive principles and we may have had less 3’s against us if we did that.”
The second half looked like a different ball game, highlighted by the third period which was defined by two big runs from Marshall. A 9-3 run to open the quarter by the Thundering Herd all but erased the halftime deficit and a 12-0 run a little later gave them a nine point lead.
“(The) second half was different,” Haynie said. “We didn't stop the bleeding. We couldn't defend, we couldn't get stops.
“Marshall came out (of halftime) and gave it to us. We can't do that against a great team. I mean, they're very well coached. They have really good players. … We can't come out flat like that against great teams.”
The momentum swing was also visible on the glass. The Thundering Herd out-rebounded the Chippewas 22-17 in the second half.
“It's simple,” Haynie said. “They were hungry. They wanted to go get it, and we didn't do a good job putting a body on 'em and boxing 'em out.”
In the end, while the Chippewas were able to keep it close, Marshall closed out the comeback-win in the fourth quarter.
Up next, the Chippewas will resume conference play with a game against Akron in Mount Pleasant on Wednesday. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
“We just gotta come back and learn from it and just keep the energy,” Haynie said. “We had really good practices going into this (Saturday's) game. We felt very good and confident, so we can't lose that.”
