Central Michigan University
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Western Michigan
CMU Women Beat Western To Reach Top Spot In West
2/11/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Lindsay Gerber - CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, MI. - Jewel Cotton and Cassie Breen combined for 44 points in front of a pink-filled McGuirk Arena to lead the Central Michigan women's basketball team to a 94-83 Mid-American Conference victory over rival Western Michigan on Saturday.
CMU improved to 18-6, 10-2 MAC and moved into a tie for first place in the West. The Chippewas share the top spot with Northern Illinois, which is also 10-2 in league play. Ball State lost at home to Ohio on Saturday to slip to 10-3 in the conference and into third place.
The win was Sue Guevara's 171st as the Chippewas' head coach, tying her with Donita Davenport for first all-time on the CMU women's basketball coaching list. Guevara is 171-139 in her 10 years at CMU. Davenport went 171-165 as the Chippewas' coach from 1984-96.
Cotton, a senior forward, put up 21 points, her most since she scored a career-high 26 against Furman on Nov. 18. She was 8-for-10 from the field and had four rebounds.
"This game I told myself to just take it slow," Cotton said. "I do have that mid-range game, so I need to use it and that was my goal, to just slow down.
"I don't want to force shots, I don't want to ball hog it. At the same time, I always want people to play me honest. I knew that I would have to be a threat."
Breen scored the team-high with 23 points, shooting 46.1 percent from field goal range. She made all eight of her free throw attempts.
"I think everything was going right," Breen said. "I wasn't really hitting the 3 at first, but shooters have got to shoot, so just I just kept shooting."
Presley Hudson added 15 points, 12 of which came in the second half, for the Chippewas. She knocked down three of her five 3-point attempts and added seven assists.
Tinara Moore and Reyna Frost also scored in double figures with 12 and 10, respectively.
CMU took the lead early on and fought to keep the momentum going. The Broncos brought the deficit to as little as six midway through the third quarter, but back-to-back buckets by Tinara Moore put the Chippewas back in front by double digits.
"It was really hard to get any kind of a flow," Guevara said. "I think when the game is being called a certain way, we have to adjust sooner.
"I know we won, but the next time we go out we have to be much better defensively. We have to be disciplined. It's what we have to do."
Breanna Mobley scored 27 points Western (14-9, 5-7), which has lost five straight.
Central Michigan will look to remain atop the West when it goes to East-leading Ohio (18-5, 9-3) on Wednesday, Feb. 15. The Chippewas defeated the Bobcats, 64-59, less than two weeks ago in Athens, Ohio.
Fans at Saturday's game donated more than $700 in support of the Kay Yow Cancer fund.
