Chippewas in Final Lead-up to MAC Opener
12/27/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Not a whole lot of time left, and still plenty of work to do.
The Central Michigan women's basketball team has two non-conference games before its Jan. 3 Mid-American Conference opener at Kent State. The first of those final two non-leaguers - both at home -- is Sunday against Oakland (6-5). The Chippewas entertain Dayton (7-3) on Wednesday.
CMU is 4-5. One of those losses came to top-ranked South Carolina, another to Kentucky, a team that has been in the top 10 all season. Still another came against Dayton, which is 13th - of 349 teams - in the NCAA RPI rankings.
The Chippewas' most-recent loss came by just three points at once-beaten Minnesota.
"We've played a pistol of a schedule," CMU coach Sue Guevara said. "The only game we were totally out of was South Carolina (80-45). You can always woulda', shoulda', coulda'.
"We hit a free throw or two we tie (a game); we hit a three late we tie. It's just down the stretch big people making big plays."
True, it's a learning process and, true, the Chippewas are playing the kind of brutal pre-MAC schedule that they have become accustomed to playing under Guevara.
Still, no matter the level of competition, Guevara said there are plenty of areas for the Chippewas to improve.
"I am more perplexed at our lack of offensive output," she said. "We're not as efficient as I would like us to be offensively. The next two games we really have to focus on our offensive efficiency."
"We have these five seniors, but we're not consistent enough right now. And that's on me. We have our kids who understand what this is all about."
Crystal Bradford continues to lead the Chippewas in both scoring (20.0 points per game) and rebounding (8.8). She ranks second in the MAC and scoring and fifth in rebounding.
Bradford did not play in the Chippewas' first matchup with Dayton, an 86-76 Flyers' victory on Dec. 13.
Oakland has won three of its last four games capped by a 92-84 win over Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne on Monday. The Grizzlies have dropped games this season Michigan State and Indiana of the Big Ten, and they have played two other MAC teams, Miami (Ohio) and Ball State. Oakland split those two games, beating Miami at home and losing to Ball State on the road.
Olivia nash, a 6-foot-1 junior forward, leads the Grizzlies in scoring at 14.7 points per game.
"Oakland's almost a mirror image of us," Guevara said. "They run the dribble-drive, they've got three-point shooters, and they've got a nice post player in Olivia Nash."
