Central Michigan University
Bowling Green
Chippewas Pull Out OT Win at Bowling Green
1/14/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Lindsay Gerber, CMUChippewas.com
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Presley Hudson scored 11 of her 34 points in overtime Saturday as the Central Michigan women's basketball team remained unbeaten in the Mid-American Conference with a 76-65 win over Bowling Green at the Falcons' Stroh Center.
The win, CMU's fifth straight, lifted the Chippewas to 13-4, 5-0 MAC. Bowling Green fell to 5-12, 1-3.
Reyna Frost recorded her third double-double of the season, scoring 12 points and grabbing a career-high 23 rebounds for CMU. It was the second-highest single-game rebounding total in program history. Gina Mazzolini set the standard with 24 boards in a 1975 game against Wayne State. Julie Roberts tied it twice in 1979.
After the Falcons held Hudson to just five points in the first half, the sophomore guard caught fire in the second half and overtime, scoring 29 points. She was 9-for-16 from the floor including 4-of-5 from 3-point range after halftime.
"Bowling Green wasn't giving her much air whatsoever." CMU coach Sue Guevara said of Hudson, who has scored at least 30 points in four of her last five games and is averaging 33.7 over that span. "Big players make big plays at big times and that's what she did."
The Chippewas trailed, 30-24, at halftime, then outscored the Falcons, 21-8, in the third quarter and eventually built a nine-point lead, 47-38, early in the fourth. Bowling Green hung in and Sydney Lambert's 3-pointer with 2 seconds remaining regulation sent it overtime tied 61-61.
"Sydney hit a big fat 3 with someone in her face and they tied it." Guevara said. "Then it was just going to be a matter of us buckling down on defense, finding the 3-point shooters no matter where they were, and looking to attack the basket."
A Hudson jumper with 2:56 left in OT put CMU in front for good, 65-63, and the Chippewas won going away, outscoring the Falcons 15-4 in the extra session.
Aleah Swary added 10 points for the Chippewas, who outrebounded the Falcons, 52-35. Cotton added a season-high 12 boards.
Lambert and Carly Santoro scored 20 points apiece to lead Bowling Green, which made a season-high 12 3-pointers. Haley Puk added 14 points.
It was the fourth-consecutive white-knuckler between CMU and Bowling Green. Three of those four games - all Chippewa victories - have been decided by three points or less, and two have gone to overtime.
The Chippewas will return home on Wednesday, Jan. 18, to play host to Miami (Ohio) in a MAC game. The RedHawks are 7-11, 1-4.
CMU remains tied atop the MAC West with Northern Illinois, a 77-73 winner over Toledo on Saturday. The Huskies are also 5-0 in league play.
