Central Michigan University
Elon
Chippewa Women Fall in Preseason WNIT Finale
11/19/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Cullen Maksimowski,CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. — The Central Michigan women's basketball team dropped its final game of the Preseason WNIT on Saturday, 71-57, to Elon at McGuirk Arena.
With the loss, the Chippewas fall to 1-2 to open the 2016-17 season. The Phoenix move to 3-1.
"It's a disappointing loss but it was a loss to a very good Elon team," CMU coach Sue Guevara said. "They had a real nice inside and outside attack tonight and we had trouble stopping both."
CMU fell behind early surrendering a 9-0 Elon run to open the game and could not recover as they trailed 39-25 at halftime.
The Chippewas, who trailed by as many as 20 points early in the third quarter, closed the gap to 10 in the fourth quarter couldn't draw any closer as they were handed their second double-digit loss of the season.
CMU shot 40.8 percent from the field including 22.8 percent from 3-point range. Elon shot 52.8 percent from the field and 52.9 percent on 3-points attempts.
Central Michigan was outmatched in the post for much of the game. Elon finished with a 34-26 advantage in points in the paint and a 35-22 edge in rebounding.
The Phoenix held CMU's starting forwards Tinara Moore and Reyna Frost to a combined 10 points and eight rebounds.
"They're (post players) were bigger and had had a few pounds on us," said senior forward Jewel Cotton. "We when we tried to make our moves they were really good with moving their feet and keeping us away from the basket. That was tough for us tonight."
Cotton came off the bench and was able to find success on mid-range jumpers, totaling 16 points on a 7-of-9 performance from the field one night after she posted a career-high 26 points in a victory over Furman. Cotton also led CMU with eight rebounds.
Connecting on just two of her nine 3-point attempts, junior guard Cassie Breen was able draw contact and generate offense from the free-throw line. She led CMU with 21 points and was 11-of-12 from the line.
"I was able to get to the free throw line because they probably weren't expecting me to drive," Breen said. "I'm not any use to the team if I'm not hitting my threes. It's just one way for me to get the defense shifting and get my teammates open."
Elon's offense was led by Jada Graves who scored 20 points in the game on was 4-of-5 on 3-pointers. Jenifer Rhodes added 17 points and led the Phoenix with nine boards.
The Chippewas will have a quick turnaround as they return action on Tuesday for a nonconference home game with Oakland at 7 p.m.
"We'll get back at it and really work on our defense, look again to establish our inside game, our outside game and just be a better basketball team on Tuesday when we take the floor," Guevara said.
