Central Michigan University
Dayton
Chippewas Battle, But Fall to Dayton
12/31/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - In the long run, it will serve the Chippewas well, just as the entire pre-Mid-American Conference schedule has.
That long-term glass-half-full outlook took some of the sting out of the Central Michigan women's basketball team's 98-89 non-conference loss to Dayton at McGuirk Arena on Wednesday afternoon.
"No one likes to lose," CMU senior Kerby Tamm said. "We played a really tough non-conference schedule and we've always talked about getting better from each game.
"The main thing is it's preparing us for the MAC. We're 0-0 right now going into our first MAC game, and we need to just keep getting better."
The Chippewas (5-6) open MAC play Saturday at Kent State (2-9). They will very likely have to do it without second-leading scorer Jessica Green, who was injured late in the loss to Dayton.
Green, a senior guard, went down hard with what appeared to be a right knee injury with under a minute to play while defending a Dayton fastbreak. Green missed much of the 2012-13 season with a left knee injury.
She was due to undergo x-rays Wednesday evening. Coach Sue Guevara said in her post-game press conference that she did not know the prognosis.
"Whenever you've had a previous knee injury, and then you hurt your knee, I think it scares the living tar out of you," Guevara said. "It scares me to look at it."
Devastating knee injuries have, unfortunately, been an all-too frequent occurrence for the Chippewas. They lost starting forward Jewel Cotton to just such an injury in the fourth game this season, and last season, star Crystal Bradford was lost to the same affliction just before the MAC Tournament.
While the Chippewas are holding out hope that that isn't the case for Green, they know they have to prepare for the worst.
"For the most part, we try to keep a positive mindset and just pray that she does come back," said junior Da'Jourie Turner, who most likely would move into the starting lineup in Green's absence. "Jess is a great leader of our team, but it's dealing with adversity. Everybody just has to step it up a notch, pick up where she left off. As a team we just have to stick together."
The Chippewas did that, for the most part, all day against a Dayton team that entered Wednesday's game with an RPI of 4 and walked away from McGuirk with its eighth consecutive victory.
Andrea Hoover, the reigning Atlantic 10 Player of the Year, matched her career-high with 29 points and Amber Deane came off the bench to add a season-high 25 to lead the Flyers (9-3).
Bradford scored 29 points to lead five Chippewas in double figures.
Dayton led by 13, 64-51, with under 13 minutes remaining, but the Chippewas lapped at the Flyers' heels, twice cutting their deficit to two points, the last at 91-89 on a pair of Bradford free throws with 1:10 remaining.
But a Hoover layup with a minute to play restored the lead to four, 93-89, and triggered a 7-0 game-closing run.
Ally Malott, a 6-foot-4 senior, added 16 points and eight rebounds, while Saicha Grant-Allen, a 6-5 sophomore, had 14 points and a game-high 12 rebounds for the Flyers.
Dayton made 66.7 percent of its field goal attempts in the second half to keep the Chippewas at arm's length.
The game unfolded in much the same way as the teams' first meeting did, an 86-76 Dayton win, on Dec. 13.
"The big thing for us when we play against them is defense," said Tamm, who added that playing a team like Dayton - twice -- is an excellent primer for the Chippewas as they head into league play. "I mean they're a great scoring team. Everyone on the court is a threat. They're a really tough team to defend. Knowing the scouting report, knowing what each person does will be good preparation for us when we go into MAC play."
Green finished with 17 points, Turner had 13, Tamm added 11, and Jas'Mine Bracey had 10 for CMU. Bradford finished with eight rebounds.
Bradford, Green and Turner combined to finish 21-for-30 from the free throw line and the Chippewas made 75 percent (27-of-36) of their attempts from the stripe. It marked the second consecutive game that CMU has knocked down its free throws at a 75 percent clip.
"We shot it well at the free throw line," Guevara said, "we only had 11 turnovers, we outrebounded them, we had five players in double figures offensively, we scored 89 points and you're not supposed to lose a basketball game scoring 89 points."
But they surrendered 98, the most they have allowed in a game since last March. The Chippewas entered the game holding opponents to an average of 69.1 per game.
"It didn't matter what we did defensively," Guevara said. "Big players made big plays. They hit some big shots and we couldn't get a stop when we needed a stop. That's about the bottom line.
"I thought our effort was good today. I need to see that kind of an effort every game and in practice. The best thing is that now we're 0-0 (in the MAC) and we go to Kent State."
