Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
Eastern Mich
Women's Basketball Drops MAC Opener
1/3/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 3, 2001
MOUNT PLEASANT--The Central Michigan women's basketball team opened the Mid-American Conference season with a 78-59 loss to Eastern Michigan on Wednesday night at Rose Arena.
The loss drops CMU's record to 3-9 overall while Eastern Michigan improves to 8-4.
The opening minutes of the game were tight with two ties and two lead changes.
EMU jumped to a 14-9 advantage with 13:23 to go in the first half but the Chippewas answered with a 6-0 run to take a 15-14 lead.
The Eagles then took back the lead at 16-15 on a free throw by former Chippewa Joni Daniels with 11:25 to go in the half.
Eastern took control of the game in the closing minutes of the half outscoring CMU 13-4 in the final 4:24 to take a 42-26 lead into the halftime break.
EMU kept up the pressure in the second half, building its lead to as many as 30 points.
The Chippewas picked up the scoring in the final minutes of the game to slice the EMU lead to 19.
Eastern shot .507 (34-67) for the game while CMU shot just .344 (21-61).
Alicia Rozak led the Chippewas with 13 points, six rebounds and five assists while freshman Mandy Elwer came off the bench to add 10 points.
Eastern Michigan was led by Kristy Maska who scored a game-high 15 points. Shani Charles added 12 points and nine rebounds and Daniels chipped in 14. Stephanie Smiley dished out 10 assists.
CMU returns to action on Saturday when it hosts Ball State at 2 p.m.
