Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
Buffalo
Chippewa Women Fall In OT in MAC Final
3/12/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Disappointing? Absolutely.
But Sue Guevara refused to allow her Central Michigan women's basketball team to feel sorry for itself after the Chippewas fell to Buffalo, 73-71, in an overtime heartbreaker Saturday in the Mid-American Conference Tournament championship game at Quicken Loans Arena.
The Chippewas, with just one senior starter, are 22-10, and will await word on a potential Women's NIT bid. Buffalo (20-13) advances to the NCAA Tournament after becoming the lowest seed (eighth) ever to win the MAC Tourney.
"I told the team, 'If you want to feel like cow manure right now, you can, go ahead," said Guevara, whose team was picked to finish fifth in the MAC West in the preseason poll, then went out and won the division title and earned the No. 2 seed in the tournament.
"But understand what we did this year," Guevara continued. "No one expected us to be in this room today. And we're not done playing. I'm pretty sure we're going to get a bid to the WNIT.
"On Monday when we come back into practice, I don't want to see anybody's head down, I don't want to see 'Oh, poor me.' I don't want to see that because we still get to play and that's the best thing.
"I couldn't be prouder of our team. We have sophomores and freshmen. We'll be back. We'll be back, and we'll be better for it."
Stephanie Reid banked home a jumper from near the free throw line as time expired to give the Bulls the victory and the unlikely title. Buffalo won four tournament games in six days, three of them against higher-seeded teams.
Tinara Moore scored 18 points, Da'Jourie Turner had 15, and Cassie Breen and Presley Hudson added 10 each for the Chippewas, who were vying for their first MAC Tournament championship and NCAA Tourney bid since 2013.
Moore and Turner were both named to the all-tournament team.
Joanna Smith scored 23 points to lead Buffalo, which held CMU to a 4-for-16 performance from 3-point range, one day after the Chippewas went 15-for-27 from behind the arc in an 86-71 semifinal win over Eastern Michigan.
Smith made five triples as the Bulls finished 10-for-20 from long range. Reid finished with 10 points and 12 assists.
Breen, who hit eight triples against Eastern, finished 1-for-5 from long range against the Bulls. Hudson had two 3-pointers on Saturday after hitting five against the Eagles.
"I thought that they did a really nice job of switching on to (Breen), and not giving (Hudson) a lot of room," Guevara said. "Same shots they hit yesterday, we just didn't hit today."
The game was tight all the way and included 10 lead changes and 10 ties.
The Chippewas knotted it, 64-64, with 50 seconds left in regulation on two Jewel Cotton free throws. CMU had a chance to win as regulation time expired, but Turner's leaner from just inside the free throw line fell short.
Hudson hit two free throws with 3.4 seconds remaining in overtime to re-tie it at 71-71. After a timeout, Reid took an inbounds pass near halfcourt, picked up a screen, dribbled to the right of the basket at the free throw line, and let fly a heavily contested jumper that banked as the buzzer sounded.
"We just wanted to keep them in front (of us), contain them, put a hand up so they had to take a tough shot and that's what happened, went in," Cotton said. "Natural feeling is to be disappointed. We were that close, but that also just lets us know that we were meant to be here, and our next strategy is to learn from this, take it and move forward with it."
