Central Michigan University Athletics
Road Test for CMU Women
1/5/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Cullen Maksimowski, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. — Each team the Central Michigan women's basketball team will face in its Mid-American season will present different challenges. This week it will be scoring against a very stingy defense.
CMU (7-5, 1-0 MAC) will travel to Buffalo Wednesday, to take on a Bulls team (8-4, 0-1) that leads the conference in scoring defense, allowing just 54.2 points per game.
After a convincing 81-61 victory over Kent State in its MAC opener Saturday, the Chippewas will need to be more patient on offense, coach Sue Guevara said
"Well they're real stingy in man-to-man," she said. "We're going to have to be very patient, make sure we're moving the ball down hill and that we are attacking from the wing.
"We need to keep the ball up when we get it in the paint because they are really good at looking to double down."
The Chippewas have struggled at times this season to score against physical defenses.
"When you look at when we go into our (scoring droughts), it is because it's one pass and up," Guevara said. "If we can make three or four penetrations and not take contested shots we're going to get open looks."
CMU ranks second in the MAC in scoring, averaging 73.9 points per game and is second in 3-point shooting at 34.8 percent.
Freshman guard Presley Hudson leads the Chippewas in scoring and is sixth in the MAC, averaging 16.5 points per game.
Sophomore Cassie Breen is second in the MAC and No. 35 in the nation in 3-point shooting percentage with a 43.7 percent clip from long range.
Freshman forward Reyna Frost leads the team and ranks third in the MAC in rebounding averaging at 8.3 per game. Sophomore Tinara Moore is second and ranks sixth in the MAC at 8.1.
Frost scored a career-high 27 points in CMU's MAC-opening victory over Kent State on Saturday. The 81 points was CMU's third-highest total of the season, and it was its biggest output in nine games.
Junior guard Joanna Smith leads Buffalo in scoring and is sixth in the MAC, averaging 16.1 points per game. The Bulls fell to MAC West Division preseason favorite Eastern Michigan, 67-56, in their league opener on Saturday.
After winning its first six games of the season, Buffalo is 2-4.
The Chippewas will go to Akron, 6-6, 0-1, on Saturday, Jan. 9 (2 p.m.), before returning home to face Northern Illinois on Jan. 13.
