Women's Basketball Releases 2015-16 Schedule
8/28/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
2015-16 schedule
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - The Central Michigan women's basketball team will open the 2015-16 season on Nov. 13 at home with a non-conference game against Indiana State.
The schedule was unveiled today and comprises 12 non-leaguers before the Mid-American Conference opener at home against Kent State on Saturday, Jan. 2.
CMU finished 13-18, 7-11 in the MAC in 2014-15. Indiana State, which plays in the Missouri Valley, was 17-13. Kent State went 5-25, 3-15 a year ago. The Chippewas close the regular season on Saturday, March 5, at home against Eastern Michigan.
The last of CMU's 12 non-conference games will come in Philadelphia, when it plays in the 23rd Hawk Classic, hosted by Saint Joseph's (13-17), on Dec. 28-29. The Chippewas will open the tournament against Rider (11-20) and will play either host Saint Joseph's or Maryland-Baltimore County (12-19) in their second game the following day.
The CMU women will play six Saturday home games including two doubleheaders with the Chippewa men on consecutive weekends, Jan. 23 and Jan. 30.
"We get to open at home and three of our last five games are at home," said Sue Guevara, who is entering her ninth year as the Chippewas' coach. "Our first long (MAC) trip, we go to Buffalo and we go to Akron, and we're not in school yet. That's a really good thing."
The Chippewas will make the Buffalo-Akron trip in early January, and on Jan. 16 will visit defending MAC champion Ohio.
"It'll be a good test for us right away to see where we're at with such a young team," said Guevara, who lost several top-line players to graduation, including WNBA draftee Crystal Bradford.
Also on the non-conference slate are Middle Tennessee (24-10), Loyola (6-25), Illinois-Chicago (16-14), Duquesne (23-11), Illinois (15-16), Memphis (14-17), and Southern Illinois Edwardsville (19-12).
The Chippewas will play host to Middle Tennessee, Duquesne, Memphis and SIU-Edwardsville. Last season, Middle Tennesse finished as the Conference USA regular-season runner-up; Duquense finished third in the Atlantic 10; and SIU-Edwardsville was second in the Ohio Valley.
Both Middle Tennessee and Duquesne played in the WNIT in 2015.
The Chippewas are slated to face Memphis, which is coached by former Chippewa assistant Melissa McFerrin, for the second consecutive season. CMU fell at Memphis last year, 62-61.
"If you look at all those teams that we have in the non-conference, they're very, very similar," Guevara said. "They're very competitive, and they're all teams that have been to post-season play. I think it's perfect for this team.
"By the time the MAC (schedule) rolls around, our non-conference schedule, I think, will have gotten us ready and our inexperienced depth will then have some experience."
The Chippewas will enter the 2015-16 season with a vastly different look from the recent past. There are just four upperclassmen on the 14-player roster, and several of the players will be expected to step into much more substantial roles.
The Chippewas played three exhibitions this summer in Canada, a good building block for a young team.
"We went to Toronto and I liked what I saw," Guevara said.
Start times will be announced later.
