Guevara Eyes Improved Shooting, Bench Contribution
12/15/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jared Porter, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - The Central Michigan women's basketball team has already experienced bumps along the road in a season that is still in its adolescence.
The Chippewas are 3-3, but could easily be 5-1 with a few more fortunate bounces of the basketball.
Losing three games out of six was not the start CMU coach Sue Guevara had in mind coming into the season, but she says the troubles her team have encountered early in the year will not dictate how it will finish in the long run.
"The losses we have this season are not indicative of what we can do," Guevara said. "We still have a lot of room for improvement, and I believe we have the potential and capability to be a much stronger team as the season progresses."
The Chippewas come off a loss to Dayton on Saturday, 86-76, marking the largest margin of defeat on the season. With just a three-day turnaround, CMU looks to improve certain areas of its game as it prepare for its matchup with Delaware State (1-7) at McGuirk Arena on Tuesday. Tipoff is scheduled for noon.
"I would like our three-point shooting to be better than what is has been," said Guevara, whose team is making 35 percent of its three-point attempts and shooting 41 percent from the floor overall. "Overall, our shooting percentage needs to be better. Defensively, we're getting better, but we need to do a much better job of rebounding the ball."
A better contribution from the bench is another thing Guevara said she would like to see from the Chippewas. Outside of Crystal Bradford -- who came off the bench Saturday against Dayton -- no CMU reserve player scored or logged more than six minutes.
"I have to start seeing productivity (from reserves) in practice," Guevara said. "I told our bench players that I would much rather see them engaged more than anything else. They don't necessarily have to come in and score. They can show me they know what they're doing when they're out there by rebounding, hustling and playing with energy.
"I challenged some of the bench players about being soft. When opposing teams wrestle the ball away from us, we can't have that. (Reserves) are in the game to bring more energy to the floor while the starters rest. We have to be tougher than what we've been."
Delaware State comes in having lost four consecutive games. Despite the Hornets' lackluster start to the season, Guevara says they are a very offensively capable team and should not be overlooked.
"I know (Delaware State) is 1-7 on the year, but they shoot the ball better than we do," Guevara said. "They shoot the three-ball better than we do. They shoot the two-ball better than we do. I told our team to not be fooled by our opponent's record, because they can play."
Three Hornets players average double-digits in points per game. Raven Bankston and Tierra Hawkins lead the team with averages of 18.3 apiece, while Amber Bogard comes in at 10.8.
"Knowing at all times where their three-point shooters are is a big key," Guevara said. "If they have a weakness, it is their transition defense. It's going to be a matter of us rebounding the ball and then pushing the ball down the floor, because I think we can get some points in transition."
