Central Michigan University
Eastern Michigan
Back On Track
2/17/2018 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Lindsay Gerber, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- Big numbers from a good-and-getting-better frontcourt, a bounceback win, and the first of a number of hoped-for benchmarks.
Senior forward Tinara Moore scored 26 points, grabbed eight rebounds and made eight blocks on Saturday as the Central Michigan women's basketball team downed Eastern Michigan, 95-82, a Mid-American Conference game at McGuirk Arena.
Junior forward Reyna Frost added 14 points and hauled down a season-high 20 rebounds, giving her her 13th double-double of the season.
WHAT IT MEANS
The Chippewas rebounded from their first MAC loss, an 85-82 setback at Buffalo on Wednesday, to improve to 13-1 in league play. They clinched a first-round bye in the league tournament, meaning they will head to Cleveland for the tourney quarterfinals on March 8 or 9.
CMU improved to 21-4 overall. EMU is 10-15, 6-8.
BALANCE
All five CMU starters scored in double figures. Presley Hudson had 18 points; Cassie Breen drained four of eight 3-point attempts en route to 16 points; and Micaela Kelly had 13 points while dishing out a team-high six assists.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Central Michigan never trailed, led by 14 points at halftime, and was up as many as 17 in the third quarter. Eastern Michigan put up a fight and brought it within three points, 78-75, with 7:34 remaining.
Kelly drained a 3-pointer 9 seconds later, sparking a 15-1 run that left CMU up 93-76 with under 3 minutes to play. The Eagles never brought it closer than 13 points.
KEY STATS
The Chippewas outrebounded the Eagles, 44-32, and CMU shot 52.9 percent from the floor (36 of 68). CMU made 12 of its 23 3-point attempts for 52.2 percent. It was CMU's second-best performance of the season, by percentage.
The Chippewas also made 91.7 percent of their free throw attempts (11 for 12).
EASTERN LEADERS
Courtnie Lewis scored 28 points and Danielle Minott had 21 for the Eagles.
PLAY4KAY
The game was the annual Play4Kay game, and the Chippewas wore white uniforms trimmed in pink. Fans raised 3, 553 dollars for cancer research.
NEXT
Northern Illinois (13-12, 5-9 MAC) on Wednesday (7 p.m.).
QUOTES
Frost: "We still have games to play. So it's really nice that we already reached (the first-round bye), but we still have to play each game and get better each game so we can go to Cleveland with a good record and do what we need to do in March."
Coach Sue Guevara: "We had major problems defending today. Defending the penetration. Our defense has to be better defending penetration and we're going to work on taking charges."
Guevara: "It's awesome the way our fans support our team and initiatives...They come and support. Everybody in that arena has been touched some way by cancer, so for our fans to support us the way they did is great."
Guevara: "I don't even want to think about (Cleveland). I'm looking at our schedule and it's one game at a time. Northern Illinois is coming in, we go to Western. We have Ball State and Toledo. That's all in the (MAC) West, and the West is really tough. The best thing is that these games will really get us ready for the journey."
Guevara: "Right now, we will be battle tested. Today, we had a 12, 13-point lead that went down to four. There wasn't a panic. We'll be battle tested and we'll be ready for whatever is thrown at us or whatever we throw in Cleveland."
