Central Michigan University
NIU
Big Road Win Keeps CMU Women Perfect In MAC
1/17/2018 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
DeKALB, Ill. - Getting tough and finding a way to win.
Traits of a championship team.
The Central Michigan women's basketball team is a long way from claiming any kind of hardware, yet one-third of the way through the Mid-American Conference schedule, the Chippewas are unbeaten.
Redshirt freshman Micaela Kelly scored a career-high 22 points on Wednesday as the Chippewas wrestled away an 81-78 victory at Northern Illinois. CMU is 14-3, 6-0 MAC, and leads the West Division by two games.
"That's a very scrappy win," said CMU coach Sue Guevara, whose team is ranked sixth in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll. "This is a tough place to play."
And the Chippewas, who play at Akron on Saturday, got tough when they needed to in a nip-and-tuck down-to-the-wire battle with the Huskies (10-7, 2-4).
Reyna Frost finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds for her ninth double-double of the season for the Chippewas, Tinara Moore had 18 points and nine rebounds, and Presley Hudson overcome first-half foul trouble to finish with 14 points.
Courtney Woods scored 25 points and Kelly Smith added 21 for the Huskies.
Hudson, who sat for all but four minutes of the first half with two fouls, hit a 3-pointer with just under 4 minutes to play in the third quarter to put CMU in front for good, 48-47. The Chippewas led by as many as eight points late in the third, but NIU hung in, and cut its deficit to two, 78-76, with 20 seconds to play.
A Frost free throw with 17 seconds left put CMU up, 79-76, and then Woods scored inside to cut the lead to one, 79-78. Hudson made two free throws with 5 seconds remaining and Woods' potential game-tying 3-point attempt with 3 seconds left missed.
The Chippewas missed all eight of their first-half 3-point attempts, but made 5 of 11 in the second half. CMU was 10 of 12 from the free throw line in the second half.
"You have to give Northern Illinois a lot of credit," said Guevara, whose team trailed, 37-34, at halftime. "They really took the 3 ball away from us. We withstood that first half with Presley Hudson only playing four minutes.
"Going into the locker room (at halftime) only three points down wasn't that bad. Maddy (Watters) came in and gave us some minutes, Aleah (Swary) came in and gave us some minutes and that's what we need."
Kelly finished 9 of 15 from the floor and hit two of her five 3-point tries.
Kelly entered the game averaging 9.6 points per game - she is the only Chippewa starter who is not averaging in double figures. Her previous career best, 20 points, came at Oakland on Dec. 3.
"She was able to penetrate, get to the basket and finish," Guevara said. "Most of the time when she gets to the basket she wants to pass it. For her to have a really nice breakout game today, we're going to take it."
