Chippewa Women Head To Eastern Michigan

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Another night in the Mid-American Conference. Expect another battle.

The Central Michigan women's basketball team will put its undefeated MAC record on the line on Wednesday (7 p.m.) when it goes to Eastern Michigan.

The Chippewas are 12-4, 5-0 MAC and ranked ninth in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25. CMU has won five consecutive games and 12 of its last 13 since an 0-3 start.

The Eagles are 8-8, 3-2 and coming off a 66-63 loss at Buffalo on Saturday. They finished fourth (of six) in the preseason MAC West poll. CMU finished atop the poll.

Last Time Out
The Chippewas outscored Western Michigan, 31-15, in the fourth quarter to secure an 80-70 league win in Kalamazoo.

Junior guard Micaela Kelly scored 31 points, Molly Davis had 19, and Gabrielle Bird added 13 to lead the Chippewas, who trailed by 11 points late in the third quarter before surging past their archrival.

"Even if we get down there's zero panic in our huddles," first-year CMU coach Heather Oesterle said. "We have an incredible amount of composure even when adversity hits. That's a credit to our preseason schedule too."

The Chippewas played a rugged pre-MAC slate that included games against Louisville, which was ranked ninth nationally at the time and is now fifth, along with mid-major powers Green Bay, South Dakota State, Marist and Central Florida.

"We've been through different moments when we're down or when we're up, or in a close game and I feel like right now we're getting great leadership from people, we're also having people step up in key times," Oesterle said.

The Chippewas
Kelly leads the MAC and is tied for second in the nation in scoring at 23.9 points per game. She spearheads an offense that is averaging 74.9 points per game, ranking second in the MAC and 32^nd in the nation.

CMU freshman Molly Davis ranks second in the MAC with 4.6 assists per game.

CMU has an RPI of 23, which is the best among MAC schools. Just three mid-major schools carry a better RPI than do the Chippewas: Missouri State (3) of the Missouri Valley Conference; Gonzaga (9) of the West Coast Conference; and Princeton (21) of the Ivy League.

At 5-0, the Chippewas lead the MAC West by one game over Toledo, which is 4-1 in conference play. CMU is the lone unbeaten team in the league.

Scouting
The Eagles are led by 5-10 junior guard Areanna Combs, who is averaging 18.5 points per game after missing EMU's first six games of the season. She is in her first season at EMU after transferring from Oklahoma State.

Freshman guard Aaliyah Stanley is second on the team in scoring at 12.6 per game.

The Eagles are tied for second in the MAC in defense (64.1 points per game) and they are third in the MAC in steals per game (9.44). EMU is hitting 6.1 3-pointers per game, ranking last in the MAC in that category. The Eagles also rank last in the conference in free throw percentage (.597)

"Very, very athletic -- one of the most athletic teams we've seen all year," Oesterle said of Eastern. "Rebounding and taking care of the ball are going to be huge, like every game. They're coming off a loss to buffalo, and they're going to be hungry to beat us so we just have to come there like we come into every game (and) not get too high or too low. It's the next game."

Next
The Chippewas return to McGuirk Arena on Saturday, Jan. 25 (1 p.m.) to play Toledo in a MAC game.

The Rockets are 9-7, 4-1 and don't play a Wednesday game ahead of their visit to Mount Pleasant.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Gabrielle Bird

Molly Davis

Micaela Kelly