Central Michigan University Athletics
CMU Women Head to Kent State for MAC Opener
1/2/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - The game, Central Michigan women's basketball coach Sue Guevara has said, waits for no one.
So, ready or not, the Chippewas (5-6) dive into Mid-American Conference play Saturday at Kent State (2-9).
It's shot selection, it's defense, it's experience, it's depth. There are myriad concerns for Guevara, a veteran who has been around the block a time or two and who knows only too well that a team - any team, no matter how good or what its expectations are -- is a bad break away from disaster, or at least some hardship.
Case in point: Senior guard Jessica Green, the Chippewas' second-leading scorer, injured her right knee with under a minute remaining Wednesday in the Chippewas' 98-89 loss to Dayton.
Green, who missed the final seven games of her sophomore year (when the Chippewas won the MAC Tournament) with a knee injury, was to undergo an MRI Friday afternoon while the team travels to Kent State. She is averaging 13.0 points and 3.0 assists per game.
While the extent of Green's injury and, therefore, the amount of time the Chippewas will be without her, is unknown, the entire turn of events brought a far too familiar - and quite unwelcome - feeling.
The Chippewas lost starting forward Jewel Cotton, a sophomore, to a season-ending knee injury in late November. In March, they lost MAC Player of the Year Crystal Bradford on the eve of the league tournament to the same ailment, a knee.
"I've been thinking about this a lot since Jewel went down, and now Jess," said Guevara, who is well into her fourth decade of college coaching. "Now with Jess we don't know what it is, but I've been here eight years and we've had nine knees, three in a (calendar) year if you go with CB, Jewel and now Jess.
"I can't say that in all the years that I've been going that we've had the rash that we've had."
The silver lining is the experience gained from traveling the knee-injury road so many times recently. Guevara and the Chippewas can ill afford to feel sorry for themselves. It's pick it up, move on, make battlefield promotions.
Junior Da'Jourie Turner will move into the starting lineup in place of Green, while freshman Amani Corley figures to see significantly more playing time than the 11 minutes per game she averages.
Turner is no babe in the woods. She drew eight starts a year ago, is averaging 14-plus minutes per game, and has been a regular in the rotation going back to the start of the 2013-14 season.
"Hey, I just saw Ohio State upset the No. 1 team in the country in football with their third-string quarterback," Guevara said, referring to the Buckeyes' 42-35 national-semifinal win over Alabama on Thursday night. "So you know what, when opportunity comes, you're prepared, and now it's your time."
Kent State is 2-9 and in the third year of rebuilding under coach Danielle O'Banion. The Chippewas (5-6) play host to Buffalo (7-4) in a MAC game on Wednesday, Jan. 7, then entertain Northern Illinois (4-6) on Saturday, Jan. 10.
Saturday marks the long-awaited red-letter date the Chippewas have pointed to after a murderous non-conference run-up - including No. 1 South Carolina, No. 11 Kentucky, once-beaten Minnesota and a very good Dayton team (twice). CMU was an overwhelming pick to win the league championship in the preseason coaches poll.
"It's one game at a time," Guevara said. "It's still a marathon. We're at about mile 10 right now. The goal is to win the (MAC) tournament. We have to be peaking (in March), we have to be getting on top of that mountain. We're not even halfway up the mountain yet."
