Central Michigan University
Loyola
Chippewas Feast on Hoops For Hunger Game
12/1/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Cullen Maksimowski, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. — Presley Hudson dropped a season-high 29 points Thursday afternoon as the Central Michigan Women's basketball team dominated Loyola of Chicago, 95-57, in a non-conference game at McGuirk Arena.
The Chippewas improve to 5-2 with the win and run their winning streak to five-straight. The Ramblers drop to 0-6. The game was CMU's annual Hoops for Hunger, and more than 3,000 Mid-Michigan elementary school students attended the game.
CMU shot a season-best 50.7 percent from the field in the game and its 95 points and 38-point margin of victory were their largest of each respective totals this season. The win was the Chippewas' fourth in a row.
"It's been a minute or two since we shot 50 percent from the floor so that was good to see," said CMU coach Sue Guevara, whose team plays host to Illinois Chicago on Saturday (1 p.m.) in the first game of a women-men doubleheader at McGuirk Arena. "It was like a snowball, one (shot) goes and then the next one goes and so on.
"Sometimes that feeling of the ball going through the net is all it takes to get things going. Right now, we'll take (the win), but now we just have to keep it going."
Loyola finished the game shooting 42.3 percent from the field and turned the ball over 17 times, which Central Michigan was able to turn into 30 points.
The Chippewas committed just nine turnovers and held a 41-28 rebounding advantage.
Hudson, a sophomore guard, finished the game 10-of-16 from the field including a 6-of-11 clip from 3-point range and eclipsed the 20-point mark for the first time this season.
"I felt good, just after a while of not being able to get my shots in," Hudson said. "I just kept shooting and tried to stay positive. It ended up working out and it's good to be back."
Hudson started slow, missing on her first four attempts from long distance but was able to generate five first-quarter points by driving to the rim. Hudson connected on all five of her triple attempts in the second half.
"If my outside game isn't going, I try to get inside and kind of see if I can get the ball through the net," Hudson said. "Once that keeps going, I start to go back to my 3-point shot."
Senior forward Jewel Cotton totaled 15 points on a 7-of-9 performance from the field, while junior guard Cassie Breen added 14 points.
Sophomore forward Reyna Frost led the Chippewas once again on the glass tallying 15 rebounds to go along with eight points. It marked the fifth time in CMU's seven games that Frost has reached double digits in rebounds.
She entered Thursday's game leading the Mid-American Conference with 12 boards per game. CMU has outrebounded its last four opponents by an average of 11.7 per game.
"We're really strong in the post right now, especially today because they were smaller than us," Frost said. "I think that's key for us going forward because not a lot of teams in the (MAC) have three post players that can score and get rebounds like we can."
Kaitlyn Williams led the Ramblers with 17 points. Kiana Coomber added 13.
The Hoops for Hunger effort involving the elementary-school students raised an estimated 40,000 pounds of food for families in need.
"They energy and noise is great," Guevara said. "(The kids) are happy when the 3-ball goes in and we're diving on the floor. The enthusiasm is contagious.
"It's something we do every year and it something that is very well received by the schools and the food helps a lot of families right here in the Mid-Michigan area."
