Central Michigan University
Ball State
CMU Women Fall to Ball State
3/4/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Sue Guevara is optimistic, but realistic.
After watching her Central Michigan women's basketball team fall to Ball State, 85-69, at McGuirk Arena on Wednesday, she summed up where her Chippewas stand.
"They came here to win a championship, and we were all set to do that," Guevara said of her players. "We go from a goal of winning the MAC Tournament to just getting to Cleveland. It's been a long time since I've had to say that out loud."
The loss, CMU's 10th in its last 13 starts, leaves it 12-16 overall, 7-10 in the Mid-American Conference. The loss also ended any hope the Chippewas had of hosting a first-round MAC Tournament game. They will play on the road Monday night, most likely at Northern Illinois. If they win that, they will head to Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland for a tourney quarterfinal.
The Chippewas close the regular season on Saturday at home (1 p.m.) against Eastern Michigan. CMU will honor retiring Executive Associate Director of Athletics/Sport Administration Marcy Weston during a halftime ceremony.
The five Chippewa seniors - Crystal Bradford, Jas'Mine Bracey, Jessica Green, Lorreal Jones and Kerby Tamm - will be honored in a pregame ceremony. Bradford and Green are injured and will not play.
"When we play on Saturday, it's the last game in McGuirk," Guevara said. "It's the last (home) game we're going to play. Our fans have been so loyal, they've been so supportive through all of this.
"We just want to make sure that we are going to give every effort we can. I know (the seniors) are going to try and do everything they possibly can so that we beat Eastern Michigan. Because it's Senior Day."
Nathalie Fontaine scored 25 points and grabbed nine rebounds Wednesday to lead Ball State (16-12, 12-5), which clinched the MAC West title and wrapped up the No. 2 seed for the MAC Tournament.
Da'Jourie Turner scored 19 points to lead the Chippewas, who also got 17 points from Tamm, 12 from freshman Cassie Breen, and 10 from Bracey.
Bracey grabbed 12 rebounds and Turner dished out seven assists. The Chippewas played without Jones, one of their leading rebounders, who sat out because of illness.
Ball State held a 35-30 rebounding edge, and made 27 of its 51 field goal attempts (52.9 percent), including a 10-for-24 clip (41.7 percent) from three-point range.
The Chippewas made just 38.7 percent of their field goal attempts (24-of-62), but were in the thick of it, trailing 37-32 at halftime.
Ball State started the second half with an 11-0 spurt during which Jill Morrison (19 points) hit three three-pointers. When the dust settled, the Cardinals were up 16, 48-32.
"We didn't recover," Guevara said. "It was that simple. They hit shots and we did not."
The Chippewas managed to trim their deficit to nine, 53-44, on an Aleah Swary three-pointer with 13 minutes to play, but Fontaine scored 22 seconds later to restore the lead to double digits, and CMU never got its deficit under 10 the rest of the way.
