Central Michigan University
No. 8 Northern Illinois
CMU Women Head for Cleveland
3/9/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
DeKALB, Ill. - It's on to Cleveland for the Central Michigan women's basketball team.
Jas'Mine Bracey and Da'Jourie Turner scored 14 points apiece and Kerby Tamm added 12 Monday as the Chippewas wrestled away a 49-44 win from Northern Illinois in a Mid-American Conference Tournament opener at the Huskies' Convocation Center.
CMU (13-17) will play Western Michigan (19-11) in a second-round game at noon on Wednesday at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. The winner advances to the quarterfinals.
"I told our team, at this point I don't care how we win," CMU coach Sue Guevara said. "But if we can win with our offense struggling like it did and we can win because of our defense and our rebounding, guess what, we have one more time."
And another shot in Cleveland in what, as the season wound down, seemed like an increasingly unlikely scenario as three starters - Crystal Bradford, Jessica Green and Jewel Cotton - were lost for the season to injuries.
The Chippewas played Monday night without injured freshman guard Cassie Breen, who has been a key reserve all season.
"It's just been one thing after another and I'm just so proud of how we're hanging in there, how we're trusting each other, working with each other, staying together," Guevara said.
The Chippewas were severely tested by NIU (12-17), the MAC's best defensive team which had allowed opponents to score just 56 points per game this season.
The Chippewas used an early 11-0 run to seize a 17-6 lead, and by halftime were up 26-16. The lead hovered in the 5-10 point range throughout most of the second half until NIU drew to within three, 47-44, on a Jenna Thorp jumper with 1:38 left.
CMU 6:41 of the game without a field goal. A pair of Jones free throws with 8 seconds left iced it.
CMU outrebounded the Huskies, 48-32, overall including a 17-6 edge on the offensive glass.
Jones grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds and Bracey added 12. It was Bracey's third consecutive double-double.
"Our rebounding and our defense kept us in it because heaven knows it wasn't our offense," Guevara said. "I just give our kids credit for hanging in there.
"Our three seniors (Bracey, Jones and Tamm), these last two games, even the game we lost against Eastern, they're playing their hearts out. It's just so good that they get to go back to Cleveland and our freshmen get to go and get that experience."
The Chippewas held NIU senior Amanda Corral to 11 points. Corral, who was named to the All-MAC First Team on Monday, came in as the MAC's fourth-leading scorer at 16.4 points per game.
"We did a really good job in our zone (defense) of bumping and talking and we knew where she was all the time," Guevara said. "We made it really tough for her to get her points."
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