Central Michigan University
No. 1 South Carolina
Chippewas Fall to No. 1 South Carolina, 80-45
12/20/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The Central Michigan women's basketball team faced off against the best of the best Saturday afternoon, falling to No. 1 South Carolina, 80-45.
It is the first time in program history the Chippewas have competed against the top-ranked team in the country.
"They are number one for a reason," Head Coach Sue Guevara said. "They are big, they are physical. They scored 62 points in the paint, they just really abused us down low."
South Carolina (11-0) held Central Michigan (4-4) to just 45 points, the fewest CMU has scored since 2011.
Senior Crystal Bradford led with a game-high 20 points and pulled down four boards. Bradford's four rebounds moves her to third all-time in career rebounds with 1,012.
The Chippewas struck first with a field goal from Bradford just 12 seconds into the game, but South Carolina quickly answered with a score of its own.
CMU committed turnovers on the next three possessions giving the Gamecocks an opportunity to take the lead. A made bucket from South Carolina at the 16:10 mark would be the start to the Gamecocks 9-0 run.
The Maroon and Gold fell behind by as much 15 in the first half, but a made bucket from Bradford in the paint cut the deficit to 13 going into the locker room.
"It was a 13-point game at half, but I thought we had too many missed opportunities, we had missed layups and turned the ball over," Guevara said. "I think against a team like that you have to be on top of your game and again, I thought we had some inconsistent play and those are things we need to take care of."
South Carolina's size proved to be too much for CMU outrebounding the Chippewas 48-36, with 21 of the Gamecocks' points coming off the offensive glass, compared to just two for the Chippewas.
The Gamecocks shot 51 percent from the field making 37 of its 72 attempts. CMU shot 31 percent, going 18-for-59.
Senior Lorreal Jones finished the day with 10 points, eight boards, dished out an assist and picked up a steal for CMU.
Rikke Fabricius made her first appearance for the Chippewas in three minutes of play, pulling down her first career rebound.
South Carolina had four players score in double-digits, led by Tiffany Mitchell with 18.
The Chippewas are back in action tomorrow at 3:30 against University of Minnesota to conclude the Subway Classic.
