Central Michigan University
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Western Michigan
Chippewa Women Rally, Advance To Semifinals
3/9/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Central Michigan women's basketball team outscored Western Michigan, 36-26, in the second half Wednesday in topping the Broncos, 66-62, in a Mid-American Conference Tournament quarterfinal game at Quicken Loans Arena.
The second-seeded Chippewas (21-9) will play Eastern Michigan on Friday in a semifinal game at approximately 2:20 p.m. Eastern, the sixth seed, upset third-seeded Ball State, 67-53, on Wednesday. The Chippewas won both regular-season meetings with the Eagles, 66-65 and 78-70.
Fans can get their ticket for Friday's game two way - 1. Click here any time after 8 a.m. on Thursday to purchase tickets for the Semifinals session pass. Tickets will then be placed in Will Call and available for pickup at the Arcade Entrance in Quicken Loans Arena 1.5 hours prior to tip off. 2. If you do not have online access, or prefer to purchase in person, tickets can be bought at the CMU table 1.5 hours prior to tip off on Friday, March 11th.
Tinara Moore scored 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, and Presley Hudson added 18 points to lead the Chippewas, who withstood an early Western Michigan flurry and overcame a 15-point second-quarter deficit.
"I'm very proud of our team for staying with it," CMU coach Sue Guevara said. "Western came out with a lot of emotion and we kind of took a good hit right in the gut and our kids didn't panic.
"Give kudos to Western Michigan, playing three games in six days and playing with that kind of emotion."
Kudos too to the Chippewas, who hung tough and trimmed their deficit to six, 36-30, by halftime.
CMU took its first lead, 46-45, on a Jewel Cotton free throw with under three minutes to play in the third quarter, and took the lead for good, 55-54, on two Moore free throws with 7 minutes, 50 seconds to play.
CMU never led by more than five points the rest of the way. A Cassie Breen 3-pointer with 1:35 left gave CMU a 64-60 advantage, and Cotton hit a free throw with 5 seconds left for the final margin.
The Broncos (17-15) scored just two points - on a Breanna Mobley drive with 42 seconds left - in the final four minutes.
Cotton came off the bench to score 16 points, 10 of them in the second half.
"For us to get to Saturday (championship game), our bench has to play, and our bench has to produce," Guevara said. "Jewel was (MAC) co-Sixth Player of the Year and you saw why.
"The other two kids, Jasmine Harris came in and gave us some hustle, a 50-50 ball, a rebound; Aleah Swary came in, hit a 3 for us, got a rebound. It's just those little contributions is what we need."
CMU got a lock-down defensive effort in the second half from senior guard Da'Jourie Turner on Western's Meredith Shipman.
Shipman hit her first five 3-pointers and scored 17 points, all of which came in the first half. Shipman was 0-for-5 from the floor in the final two quarters.
"I told Ree Ree, 'You need to be on her like white-on-rice' and when they set screens for (Shipman), we need to step back and let Ree Ree get through that screen so (Shipman) could not get an open look," Guevara said.
The Chippewas committed just six turnovers in the game, and only one of those came in the second half as they hung on in yet another tightly contested game that went down to the wire.
"Our players, if you look at it right now, we have a freshman and a sophomore sitting here that maintained their composure down the stretch," Guevara said, gesturing to Hudson, a freshman, and Moore, a sophomore, during the post-game press conference. "Survive and advance. That's what it is."
Reyna Frost added 11 rebounds for the Chippewas, who held a 42-35 edge on the boards and made 12 of their 17 free throw attempts.
It was the Chippewas' third win of the season over Western Michigan. Alex Morton added 15 points for the Broncos, Deborah Meeks had 12, and Mobley added 10.
CMU was the lone higher-seeded team to win on Wednesday. Top-seeded Ohio fell to No. 8 Buffalo, 72-60; and fifth-seeded Akron knocked off fourth-seeded Toledo, 73-71.
Akron and Buffalo will meet in the first semifinal at noon on Friday. The title game is scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m.
