Central Michigan University Athletics
CMU Women Look to Rebound at Toledo
2/27/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jared Porter, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - It has been a rocky season for the Central Michigan women's basketball team, but there is still time to right the ship with three regular season games before the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
The Chippewas (12-14, 7-8 MAC) have lost five of their last six games and sit in fifth place in the MAC West.
The road will not get much easier for CMU as it travels to Ohio to take on Toledo (16-10, 9-6) on Saturday. The Chippewas fell to the Rockets 61-46 in the first matchup with the Rockets at McGuirk Arena earlier this month.
In large part, CMU's season has not lived up to expectations for the preseason MAC favorites, but injury and a lack of continuity have played major roles in their struggles.
However, the Chippewas are still standing. And with the recent return of senior Crystal Bradford, the reigning MAC player of the year, and offensive emergence of junior Da'Jourie Turner - the pair combined for 39 points on 15-for-31 shooting in Wednesday's loss at Northern Illinois -- there is still hope for CMU to close out the season on a high note and gain momentum heading into the postseason, coach Sue Guevara said.
"I think you can't dwell on the past and dwell on what has happened," Guevara said. "When we come into practice, we're going to work on some things that went wrong against Northern Illinois and understand that we have another opportunity against Toledo.
"We have to understand what we're playing for. I've asked this team to get better every game, but I felt like we took a step backwards against NIU defensively. Our team has had good practices coming off losses, so I fully anticipate that to happen this week."
The Chippewas rank last in the MAC in scoring defense, allowing 67.3 points per game. Saturday's matchup will be a difficult test for the CMU defense as it faces a Toledo team that ranks fourth in the MAC in at 66.8 points per game.
Offensively, the Chippewas have regained some firepower with the return of Bradford, who missed three consecutive games earlier this month with a knee injury.
Bradford has seen limited minutes in comparison to the amount she played prior to her injury, but her 19-point outing on 7-of-15 shooting Wednesday suggests that her health and conditioning is improving as she works back into the flow of competition.
"Bradford is still working her way back in and our team is still working its way back into her," Guevara said. "We got used to kind of playing without her. But since we got her back, we've had this piston firing and that piston firing, but we haven't had them all together yet.
"We have three (regular-season) games left and then it's just one for certain when the MAC Tournament begins. So, hopefully, we can get everyone coming together and firing at the same time and in the same game."
