Central Michigan University
Massachusetts
CMU Edges UMass in Season Opener, 72-70
11/16/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - A season-opening win, yes.
Style points? Nada.
"I know it's the first game," Central Michigan women's basketball coach Sue Guevara said Sunday after the Chippewas opened with a 72-70 victory at McGuirk Arena over UMass. "I thought it was as lackluster of a performance as I have seen. I'm glad we won, I just don't like how we won.
"Can a win be disappointing? I'm glad we won, I'm glad we won. But we really have to keep working on this process if we're going to do what we want to do."
The Chippewas entered the season with incredibly high expectations with four starters returning -- including Mid-American Conference Player of the Year Crystal Bradford -- from a 20-12 team that won the MAC West in 2013-14.
They opened against UMass for the second straight year. Last season, they drilled the Minutewomen, 105-61.
"I felt like," Guevara said, revealing her take on what perhaps the vibe was surrounding her team before tipoff, that "we beat this team by 40 points last year so we could just come in and play.
"That is where we have to be mentally tougher to understand it's not who we're playing, it's about our performance. That's what it's about. That starts with our seniors."
Bradford, who suffered a knee injury at the end of last season, clearly wasn't 100 percent. Still, she finished with 17 points, seven steals and five assists in 27 minutes. She also had six turnovers.
"First game back, obviously a couple nerves," Bradford said. "I don't know if this (close game) is a good or bad thing. It could be good or bad. But we're a second-half team. We just played sluggish today. We still got the win, but our performance could have been much better.
"Still working on getting my game legs back and getting back into the flow of things. Hence my six turnovers. But I felt pretty good."
Bradford, who started and played in spurts of about three minutes, re-entered the game with under nine minutes remaining and the Chippewas up one, 47-46.
Her jumper with 8 minutes, 2 seconds left ignited a 17-2 run after which the Chippewas led, 64-48, with 4:55 left.
In the 3-minute, 7-second span, Bradford scored 10 points, dished out three assists and made two steals. She hit three of her four field goal attempts and both of her free throw tries.
CMU led, 71-58, with under 40 seconds to play. The Minutewomen, who opened the season on Friday with a 63-41 loss at Western Michigan, hit two 3-pointers during a 12-1 game-closing run that made it close. The final triple came at the buzzer.
"We had 91 possessions and when you have 20 turnovers, that's not very good, not for a team that has lofty goals," Guevara said. "When you give up 12 points in 45 seconds, there's a trust factor that gets lost in all that.
"We cannot have this type of a lackluster performance against the next team we're going to play, or we will get run off the floor."
That next team is 11th-ranked Kentucky, which visits McGuirk Arena on Saturday, Nov. 22. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m.
Kerby Tamm hit three three-pointers en route to 13 points for the Chippewas, while Jewel Cotton, a redshirt sophomore who drew the start alongside the four returning senior starters - Bradford, Tamm, Jas'Mine Bracey and Jessica Green - had 11 points and 11 rebounds for her first career double-double.
Green also had 11 rebounds to go along with eight points.
Cierra Dillard scored 16 points and Rashida Timbilla added 10 for UMass (0-2).
