Central Michigan University Athletics
Women's Basketball Begins March Madness At Western Michigan Saturday
2/28/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 28, 2002
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#12 Central Michigan University
Chippewas
Record: 10-17, 2-14 Mid-American
Head Coach: Eileen Kleinfelter
Record at CMU: 10-17 (1st Season)
Career Record: 232-98 (11th Season)
at
#5 Western Michigan University
Broncos
Record: 15-14, 11-5 Mid-American
Head Coach: Ron Stewart
Record at WMU: 68-74(5th Season)
Career Record: 68-74 (5th Season)
Saturday, March 2, 2002
Tipoff: 4:30 p.m.
University Arena (5,800)
Kalamazoo, Mich.
Central Michigan Probable Starters
Name Yr. Pos. Ht. Pts. Reb. Ast.
Desiree Eidson Jr. F 6-0 13.9 6.2 1.3
Vershaun Jones Sr. F 5-9 10.4 9.6 0.9
Kendra Martin Jr. G 5-9 12.1 2.7 1.6
Laurie Henderson Jr. G 5-10 5.0 2.9 2.8
Molli Munz Sr. G 5-6 7.8 2.7 3.0
-RESERVES-
Mandy Elwer So. F 6-1 2.4 1.8 0.3
Lindy Hatfield Fr. G 5-8 3.0 1.2 0.7
The Central Michigan women's basketball team enters the Mid-American Conference tournament as the 12th seed. The Chippewas play their fiercest rival, the fifth-seeded Western Michigan. Tipoff in University Arena is set for 4:30 p.m.
The Chippewas enter the tourney with a 10-17 overall mark and a 2-14 record in MAC action. Both of CMU's win came at the expense of East Division teams where the Chippewas went 2-4. Central was 0-5 against West Division rivals. On the road, the Chippewas were 4-9 overall with a 1-7 mark in conference play.
SERIES INFORMATION - The Chippewas will face their most familiar rival this afternoon. Central and Western have done battle on the hardwood 65 times in the series' 33-year history. The Broncos own a slight edge, 34-31. Western won both meetings this season and has topped the Maroon and Gold in seven of the last eight. The last Chippewa win was a 74-68 home win in the 2000-01season. The Broncos and Chippewas most recently met 11 days ago in Kalamazoo. WMU nabbed the victory, 87-78.
LAST TIME VS. WESTERN MICHIGAN - The Broncos slipped by the Chippewas earlier this season, tallying the 87-78 home win.
Molli Munz led the Chippewa offense launching seven treys and finishing with 23 points. Kendra Martin chipped in 19 and Desiree Eidson added 11.
The Chippewa offense was hot with a .422 (17-for-64) field goal percentage. CMU's potent offense was fueled by its 11 treys. Central shot .833 (5-for-6) from behind the arc in the first half and .688 (11-for-16) from downtown for the game.
The Broncos opened the game with an eight-point lead. CMU's 10-4 surge gave it the one-point lead with 4:42 left in the half. The lead stretched to four but two turnovers in the final minute allowed Western to knot the game at 33 at the break.
Western tallied the first bucket of the second half and would hold on to the lead the rest of the way. The Broncos had an eight-point lead that was cut down to one with eight minutes left. WMU then outscored Central, 16-7, and took a 10-point lead in the final three minutes. It went on to finish with a nine-point win.
Karen Deurloo had a game-high 24 points for Western.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS RECAP - The Chippewas closed the regular season falling to Northern Illinois at home last Tuesday, 68-51.
Vershaun Jones had 13 points and a game-high 12 boards. Kendra Martin finished with 12 points.
The Huskies came out hitting buckets left and right. They shot 64 percent (16-for-25) from the floor in the first half, including 4-for-6 (.667) from behind the arc. CMU couldn't keep pace with NIU as the Chippewas hit on 44 percent (11-for-25) of their shots. A 13-0 Huskies run midway through the first half gave NIU the 15-point lead. The Huskies went into the break with a 16-point cushion.
The Chippewas opened the second half with 12-4 run and cut the lead to 10 with 11:32 left. However, the Huskies would stretch their lead to 19 twice in the final 10 minutes of the game. Northern would hold on for the 16-point win.
Lindsay Secrest led the Huskies with 18 points off the bench.
LEADING THE WAY - The Chippewas are under the tutelage of first-year head coach Eileen Kleinfelter. She comes to CMU with 10 years head coaching experience, the last seven of which she spent at Findlay. She has had nine winning seasons, seven which were 20-win seasons, and owns a 232-98 career mark. Kleinfelter also led Findlay to two NAIA "Final Four" berths. She is assisted by Jill VanderEnde, Jill McCrea and Jessica Viertlboeck.
DOUBLE DOWN - Vershaun Jones tallied the 11th double-double of the season against Northern Illinois on Tuesday. She posted 13 points and 12 rebounds in the regular-season finale. Jones leads the MAC with her 11 double-doubles and now has 25 in her career. She nearly averaged a double-double all season with 9.6 points and 10.4 rebounds per game. Jones was 12 points shy of averaging 10.0 points per game for the season. In MAC play, Jones had averages of 9.9 points and 10.4 rebounds.
SLOWING DOWN - Desiree Eidson has been the leading scorer for the Chippewas all season long. Currently, she is tops on the team with a 13.9 scoring average. Her average dips to 12.5 points per game in conference play.
In the first 17 games of the season, the 6-0 junior was averaging 16.0 points per game and had six 20-point nights. However, her offensive output has slowed in the home stretch. She has averaged 10.2 points per game in the final 10 games of the season.
HOT SHOT - Kendra Martin may not have led the team in scoring against Northern Illinois. But, she was one of the more accurate shooters for the Chippewas. Martin tallied 12 points on 5-for-10 (.500) shooting. She was 2-for-2 from the charity stripe as well. Only Vershaun Jones' .667 (6-for-9) was better. Martin has been CMU's top scorer down the stretch, averaging 11.5 points in the last 10 outings. She is second on the team with a 12.1 scoring average but is the team's top scorer in MAC play with a 12.6 points per game average.
TOP-NOTCH REBOUNDER - Vershaun Jones has been the conference's top rebounder since the first day of the season. Currently, she is tops pulling down 10.2 caroms per outing.
Going into action the week of Feb. 25, Jones was 17th in the nation in rebounding with a 10.4 average. The top mark belongs to Idaho State's Mandi Carver. She pulls down 12.5 caroms per game.
Size doesn't matter for the 5-9 senior forward. Jones is one of four nationally-ranked rebounders under 6-0 and the only rebounder in the national rankings under 5-10.
SHORT ON THE BOARDS - Despite having the conference's top rebounder, CMU has been hit by its lack of size on the glass. The last five opponents have outrbounded CMU by an average of 8.6 boards. CMU had tied or outrebounded eight opponents in the non-conference season and had +2.9 margin on the boards. In MAC games, the Chippewas have only outrebounded three teams in Ball State (+7), Bowling Green (+9) and Akron (+3). CMU has a -3.3 rebounding margin in conference action. CMU owns a -0.9 rebounding margin for the season.
HELP FROM THE BENCH - The Chippewas' bench has been sluggish in the last four games. The bench has chipped in an average 15.0 points per game this season. That average slips to 12.9 in the MAC action. In the last four games, Central's bench has only chipped in an average of 4.8 points per game.
SHOOTING THE LIGHTS OUT - Conference opponents have been shooting well against the Chippewas all season. No MAC team has shot under .400 from the floor against CMU with seven teams scoring at a 50-percent clip. MAC teams are shooting .484 (421-for-870) against the Chippewas. Western Michigan had the best outing against the Chippewas. The Broncos shot .571 (32-for-56) from the field in the last meeting. Meanwhile, the Chippewas are shooting 38.4 percent (354-for-922) from the floor against conference foes.
A SIGNIFICANT EVENT - The Chippewas broke an eight-game losing streak when they topped the Akron Zips on Feb. 6. It was a significant win as it was the first MAC road win on the season and it was the first MAC road win in 13 tries. The previous MAC road win was a 60-51 triumph at Eastern Michigan on Jan. 12, 2000. Also, the win doubled the conference wins from a season ago.
THANKS FOR THE CHARITY - The Chippewas have been on fire from the foul line in the last five games. CMU shot .842 (16-for-19) from the charity stripe at Ball State on Feb. 23, including a perfect 12-for-12 in the first half. The Chippewas are shooting .847 (61-for-72) from the line in the last five games. That includes a stellar 13-for-14 (.929) performance at Western Michigan on Feb. 19.
SIGN ON THE DOTTED LINE - Erin Kuhl (Rochester Hills/Rochester Adams) and Lindsay Mecoli (Clarkston/Our Lady) have signed to play for CMU next season.
Kuhl is a 5-9 guard who averaged 11.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game this past season. The honorable mention all-stater also averaged 14 points and four rebounds as a junior.
Mecoli is a 6-1 two-time all-state forward for Our Lady. She scored at a 21.8 pace this past season and also had 7.4 rebounds. She also scored 17.7 points as a junior and a 16.2 her sophomore year.
INJURIES - Tiffany Douglas (Lansing/Fr.) will sit out the season after suffering an injury to her ACL in the preseason. She had surgery on it on Nov. 20.
UP NEXT - The winner of this afternoon's game will advance to Cleveland, Ohio, and Gund Arena to participate in the quarterfinals. The winner of the fourth-seeded Miami and No. 13-seed Akron game will play the winner of this game on March 6. Tipoff in the Gund is at 4:30 p.m.
THE LAST TIME IN THE TOURNEY - The Chippewas' season came to end when it lost at Northern Illinois in the first round last year, 57-35.
The lone scoring threat was Mandy Elwer (Delphos, Ohio/So.) She posted 10 points and grabbed 12 boards. Beth Kindel had nine and Vershaun Jones added seven. Lindsay Secrest led the Huskies with 11 points.
Turnovers were the key to the game as the Chippewas coughed up the ball 27 times. The turnovers led to 29 NIU points. The Huskies only turned it over 13 times.
CMU trailed at the half, 32-17, and shot a paultry 27.3 percent (6-for-22). The second half was just as rough for CMU as it shot a mere 24 percent (6-for-25) and was outscored, 25-18. Central finished the game shooting 25.5 percent (12-for-47) while NIU was hitting buckets at a .436 (14-for-55) clip.
TOURNEY NOTES:
* The Chippewas will be making their 20th appearance in post season play. The Chippewas have appeared in the MAC tourney more than any other team in the conference. After CMU's 20 post-season appearances, Bowling Green and Toledo each have been to the second season 18 times while Miami and Ohio are in it for the 17th time.
* After 20 years, CMU sports a 13-19 mark in post-season play. The mark includes MAC and NCAA tournament appearances.
* The Chippewas are sixth in the post season in terms of winning percentage. CMU owns a .433 all-time post season percentage (13-17). Toledo is tops with a .762 (32-10). Following are: Bowling Green, .656 (21-11), Kent State, .647 (22-12), Miami, .482 (14-15), and Northern Illinois, .444 (4-5).
* The Chippewas have faced eight of the 12 MAC opponents in post-season play. CMU has seen Western Michigan (2-1), Miami (3-1), Toledo (3-6), Northern Illinois (2-1), Bowling Green (2-3), Ohio (1-1), Ball State (0-2) and Kent State (0-2). Central has yet to face Akron, Buffalo, Marshall and intrastate rival Eastern Michigan.
* CMU has won two of the three meetings between Western Michigan in the MAC tourney. The Chippewas advanced past the Broncos on a 47-45 win in 1982 and with an 82-70 win in 1987. The Broncos lone playoff win over CMU was 73-63 victory in 1985. All three games tipped off at a neutral site.
* Central is 10-9 in first-round games. CMU started with eight straight first-round tournament wins. In fact, CMU never lost a first-round match in the 1980's.
However, the Chippewas have lost eight straight first-round matches since 1992. It's last first-round win was a 69-59 win over Miami in Rose Arena in '92.
* The Maroon and Gold have claimed two MAC titles. One in 1983 and in 1984. The Chippewas advanced to the first round of the NCAA's each of those years and even hosted a regional game in 1983. Central lost in the first round of both appearances.
* The Chippewas have the honor of being the lowest seeded team to win the tournament title. CMU took the tourney crown in 1983 as the No. 3 seed. The Chippewas upset the top-seeded Miami RedHawks, 78-73.
