With 23 seconds on the clock and Central Michigan only up by one point, freshman guard Rylan Buschell took a deep breath at the free-throw line, the game in her hands.

Then, she sank both.

The Central Michigan women’s basketball team (16-8, 10-3) defeated its in-state rivals, Western Michigan (7-16, 3-9), in a hard-fought battle on Saturday afternoon, 70-67.

CMU also earned a spot in the Mid-American Conference tournament thanks to this outcome and Toledo's 62-51 win over Eastern Michigan.

“I’m just proud of our team and the way we finished,” head coach Kristin Haynie said. “Just super proud of their resilience and fight.”

The Chippewas showed immense poise in the final stretch of the game, where they played nearly 20 seconds of tight defense to secure the win.

“We’ve had some close games this season that we didn’t close out, and so we grew up today,” Haynie said. “We stuck to it, we talked, we scrambled and it was a really good job executing."

Although CMU came out on top Saturday, it didn’t come without its challenges.

The Broncos outscored Central Michigan 22-12 in the first quarter and were hot from the three-point line. They went 55.6% from beyond the arc and drained five threes.

“We just had to tighten our defense up,” Haynie said. “Get a little closer and defend the three-point line better.”

The Chippewas cleaned it up defensively in the second quarter, putting pressure on the Broncos and avoiding another three-point frenzy.

With back-to-back steals from senior forward Demetria Prewitt and sophomore guard Madi Morson at the end of the second quarter, McGuirk Arena erupted.

The Chippewas trailed by only three at the end of the half.

“Our defense sparked our offense; we were able to get stops and get the momentum going into the half,” Haynie said.

Western Michigan remained steady in the second half, maintaining its lead for the majority of the third quarter and hitting shots when it mattered.

CMU stayed close behind, though, and a Morson and-1 at the end of the third quarter gave them the lead, 51-49.

The fourth quarter was a close contest, with five lead changes and pure fight from both sides.

With 23 seconds left in the game and every possession valuable, CMU successfully challenged an out-of-bounds call.

This allowed the Chippewas to take the lead and get a defensive stop at the end. Finally, the buzzer sounded.

“We only had two turnovers in the second half, and last game we only had four in the second half, so that’s really good,” Haynie said. “To win ball games, you've got to take care of the ball.”

Morson led the Chippewas with 25 points, followed by sophomore forward Ayanna-Sarai Darrington, who had 14.

Although Darrington ended the day in double-figures, she was notably quiet in the first half. Going into halftime, she had only three shot attempts.

“We had to get her more touches, but we had to move,” Haynie said. “She did a really good job of not being frustrated and just continuing to want the ball [and] be aggressive.”

Prewitt had a full stat sheet on Saturday with nine points, seven rebounds, and a career-high of four steals.

Senior guard Taylor Anderson had eight rebounds and five assists, leading the Chippewas in both categories.

Central Michigan travels to Miami (OH) next Wednesday to take on the RedHawks, who are second in the MAC. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

“We’re excited just to continue to build off this momentum,” Haynie said.