Central Michigan University Athletics
Chippewas Face Busy Week
2/21/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 3, 2000
MOUNT PLEASANT - The Central Michigan University women's hoops squad continues its busiest week of the season with three straight home games. The Chippewas lost at Ohio on Sunday, 73-61, and now host Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Tuesday (Jan. 4), Bowling Green on Thursday (Jan. 6) and Ball State on Saturday (Jan. 8). The three-game homestand is CMU's longest of the season.
"The busy schedule doesn't give us a lot of time to prepare for each game and that's our biggest concern as a coaching staff," coach Fran Voll said. "We are probably fortunate that the school is not in session right now for the players sake."
Tuesday's game against Wisconsin-Milwaukee is the final non-conference contest for CMU this season. The Panthers come to Rose Arena with a 5-5 overall record. UWM has lost two straight entering Tuesday's game. Wisconsin-Milwaukee has met two MAC foes this season, losing to Buffalo (78-58) and winning at Northern Illinois (62-57). It is Central's second game against a Midwestern Collegiate Conference opponent this season after the Chippewas fell to Detroit in the season opener, 72-58.
Central resumes MAC play on Thursday against Fran Voll's former school Bowling Green. The Falcons enter Thursday's game on a seven-game losing streak. BGSU is 2-9 overall and 0-1 in the MAC after opening the conference season with an 82-61 loss to Kent.
"Bowling Green lost some key players from last year but Francine Miller is one of the top shooters in the country," Voll said. "BG also has some players who played well against us last year."
The Chippewas conclude the busy week versus Ball State on Saturday. The Cardinals have been one of the surprises of the conference this season. They enter the week with a 8-4 record and 1-0 MAC mark. BSU defeated Miami, 77-65, in the MAC opener. The Cardinals were picked to finish last in the West Division this season under first-year head coach Brenda Oldfield. However, Ball State has started the season 4-0 by winning a pair of tournaments, including defeating Minnesota in the Golden Gophers' Regal Classic.
"Ball State appears to be one of the top teams in the MAC at this juncture," Voll said. "It has come in with the energy of a new coaching staff and its big early wins helped give the team confidence."
The BSU game marks the midpoint of CMU's 27-game regular season schedule.
Central has now lost five straight after falling to Ferris State (67-60) and Ohio (73-61) last week. CMU led by as many as 12 in the first half against FSU before the Bulldogs trimmed the lead to five at the break. Ferris started quick in the second half and tied the game at 42 with 13:35 remaining. CMU led only once after that with FSU hitting a couple of big three-pointers down the stretch. Shelly Woods (Midland/Sr.) led CMU with 16 points and Jodi Culbertson (Ft. Wayne, IN/Sr.) had 15 on five three-pointers. Alicia Rozak (Sterling Heights/So.) posted the first double-double of her career with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Ohio downed the Chippewas in the MAC opener in Athens. The game was tied at 20 with 7:35 left to go in the first half before Ohio went on a 23-8 run to close the half. The Bobcats opened the second half on a 10-0 run to extend the lead to 25 points. Central regained its composure and ended up outscoring Ohio in the second half, 33-30. Molli Munz (Bellefontaine, OH/So.) poured in a career-high 18 points on six three-pointers. Vershaun Jones (Detroit/So.) added 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
"I was happy we played down to the end of the wire," Voll said. "We're still turning the ball over too many times in critical situations, though."
SCOUTING THE PANTHERS: Wisconsin-Milwaukee enters the non-conference clash with CMU on a two-game losing skid. The Panthers are at .500 with a 5-5 record. UWM defeated Northwestern, 65-54, in the season opener.
No Panther player averages in double figures and Jessica Wilhite leads the squad with 9.9 points per game. Corrin Von Wald adds 9.2 points and Daryl Schaffeld posts 8.4. Janelle Jonason is the leading rebounder with 5.1 boards per game. The Panthers are shooting .383 from the floor as a team.
UWM is coached by Sandy Botham in her fourth season with the Panthers. The team returns four starters from a squad that went 11-16 last year.
SCOUTING THE FALCONS: Bowling Green is in the midst of a seven-game losing streak. BGSU's two wins were over St. Bonaventure (88-69) and Morehead State (88-76).
Sophomore Francine Miller leads the team with 15.4 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. She was a MAC all-freshman team selection last season. Angie Farmer averages 12.3 points and Sherry Kahle posts 11.1. Seven newcomers dot the Falcons' roster.
Dee Knoblauch is in her second season as head coach at her alma mater. The Falcons were 13-14 last year and 9-7 in the MAC.
SCOUTING THE CARDINALS: Ball State started the conference season out with a 77-65 win over Miami to improve its overall record to 8-4. The Cardinals are 5-3 on the road this season.
Freshman Tamara Bowie averages 12.7 points per game and sophomore Shala Crook adds 12.3 points. Sophomore Christy Jones averages 11.9 points and a team-best 8.3 rebounds per game.
Brenda Oldfield is in her first season at the helm of the Ball State program. She spent the last four seasons as an assistant at Iowa State.
THE SERIES: CMU is 2-1 in the all-time series against Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Central lost the series opener, 69-67, in a tournament in 1981-82. Central defeated UWM in back-to-back years with a 84-61 win in 1990-91 and a 73-56 victory in 1991-92.
Bowling Green leads the all-time series with CMU, 30-10. The Falcons have won three straight and four of the last five meetings. BGSU won an 84-81 decision in Mount Pleasant last season. Voll is 1-4 against his former school.
The Chippewas lead the series against Ball State, 27-13. However, Ball State has won five of the last six meetings, including a 72-69 win in Rose Arena last year. CMU last defeated Ball State, 99-75, in Muncie at the end of the 1997-98 season.
AT THE CONTROLS: Fran Voll is in his fourth season with the Chippewas. The veteran MAC coach enters the season ranked second in conference history with 178 career wins. He trails current Kent coach Bob Lindsay's total of 193. Voll is 34-58 in his three seasons at CMU. He coached at Bowling Green from 1984-91 and led the Falcons to four MAC championships. Voll was named MAC "Coach of the Year" in 1987 and '89 and District "Coach of the Year" in '87. He now has an overall record of 178-118 in his 11th year.
MAC POLL REVISITED: The opening week of MAC play continues this week with a full docket. Looking back on the MAC preseason poll, the Chippewas were picked to finish fifth in the West Division of the MAC. Toledo was tabbed the favorite in the West and Kent was the top pick in the East and it was also selected as the likely MAC tournament winner. Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan and Akron all received first-place votes for their divisions.
RESERVE TANK: Central's starters have been carrying a large part of the offensive load this season. The starting five has been producing 78 percent of the offense on the year. CMU's bench is averaging 14.1 points per game this season compared to the opponent's mark of 21.8. Over the past four games, Central bench has been outscored by an average of 18.8 for the opponents and 7.3 for the Chippewas.
HOME COURT ADVANTAGE?: The home court is supposed to be an advantage for teams, but that hasn't been the case for CMU this season statistically speaking. The Chippewas enter the week 0-4 in home contests and they average more points, allow less points, shoot better from the floor and commit less turnovers while on the road.
M*A*S*H UNIT: Abby Lawinger (Menomonee Falls, WI/Fr.) has missed the last three games with a knee problem. She is awaiting a special brace and should return to action sometime this week. Rory Wendt (Okemos/So.) and Beth Kindel (Clare/Fr.) are both likely out for the season with injuries. Wendt was involved in an offseason car accident and never began practicing. She's also been bothered by an old knee injury. Kindel has a foot injury.
WINNER OUT: Sophomore Mandy Winner (Ft. Loramie, OH) left the team for personal reasons following the holiday break. Winner had played in all nine games before leaving and she was averaging 7.0 points and 3.1 rebounds per game.
FROM DOWNTOWN: The Chippewas set a school record by making 12 three-pointers in the loss at Ohio. Molli Munz had half of them with six and Jodi Culbertson added three more. Alicia Rozak hit two and Rochelle Germany added one. The team also set another record by attempting 24 three-pointers. The Chippewas hit 50 percent of their attempts from beyond the arc which tied a season high.
CAREER-HIGH FOR MUNZ: Sophomore Molli Munz tossed in a career-high 18 points in the loss at Ohio. She hit six three-pointers, which ties for the second most in a game in CMU history. Eve Claar hit six in a game on three different occasions and Tracy Renken holds the record with seven. Munz was six-for-11 from downtown in the game. She has made 26 three-pointers this season, one shy of her mark of 27 as a freshman. The sophomore's 55 career three-pointers surpasses Kerry Nora's mark of 53 to move into seventh place in the school record books. Munz is shooting .456 from beyond the arc this season, a mark that ranks fifth in the MAC. She's averaging 8.8 points per game and hitting 2.36 three-pointers.
SCORING LEADER: Shelly Woods was held to a season-low six points at Ohio. It snapped her streak of six straight double figure games. Woods was averaging 20.5 points over a four-game stretch before the Ohio contest. She leads CMU in the scoring department with 15.3 points per game. The senior is approaching the 1,000 career point plateau with 908 to date. Woods has led CMU in scoring in seven games this season.
THREE-POINT PARADE: Starting guard Jodi Culbertson continues to rain three-pointers this season. She's hit 30 and is on pace to break the school record of 55 set by Jenny Ritz in 1993-94. The senior is second on the team in scoring with 10.4 points per game. She leads the squad in assists with 4.3 an outing. Her 30 three-pointers this year already ranks 10 in CMU's top 10 season list and her 65 career threes ranks sixth, one behind Sally Sedlar's 66. Culbertson should like CMU's three-game homestand this week. She's averaging 14.8 points in home games compared to 7.9 on the road and her shooting percentages from the floor and three-point land are both 100 percentage points better at home.
CAROM QUEEN: Forward Vershaun Jones continues to lead the Chippewas in rebounding. Her team-best 8.6 rebounds per game average ranks sixth in the MAC this season. She's also averaging 9.5 points and outing and has two double-doubles to her credit. Jones has been in double figures in either points or rebounds in all but three games this season. She's posted at least five rebounds in every game this year and has scored in double figures on six occasions, which is tied for second best on the team.
DOUBLE TIME: Sophomore Alicia Rozak notched the first double-double of her career with 11 points and 11 rebounds against Ferris State. She's started nine games this year and is averaging 7.5 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. Her rebounding total is second best on the team and she leads the team in steals with 17.
STEPPING UP: With CMU's shortened bench, the Chippewas are depending on guard Rochelle Germany (Columbus, OH/So.) for more production. Germany had a season-high nine points against Ohio while dishing out five assists. She's averaging 3.2 points for the season and 4.5 over the last six games. Germany brings quickness to the lineup and when she's in it also allows Molli Munz to move to the shooting guard position where she's been effective.
AROUND THE RIM: The starting lineup of Alicia Rozak, Vershaun Jones, Shelly Woods, Molli Munz and Jodi Culbertson has now started seven straight games ... Jodi Culbertson and Vershaun Jones are the only two players to have started every game this season ... The Chippewas shot a season-low .300 from the floor against Ferris State ... During CMU's current five-game losing streak, the Chippewas have outrebounded their opponent three times. However, Central has only scored more than 70 points in one of those games and has not shot better than .418 from the floor in any of them ... Guards Molli Munz and Jodi Culbertson are the only two Chippewas to have more assists than turnovers.
UP NEXT: The Chippewas hit the road for a pair of games next week, traveling to Eastern Michigan and Toledo. The EMU game on Wednesday, Jan. 12 will be the second of three meetings this season. The Eagles defeated CMU, 92-55, in a non-conference game earlier in the season on Dec. 4. The Chippewas then travel to West Division favorite Toledo on Saturday, Jan. 15.
