Chippewa Women Begin Quest For 4 On Saturday

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – The Holidays are in the rearview mirror, as is the nonconference schedule.

Now, the defense begins.

The Central Michigan women's basketball team begins its quest for a fourth-consecutive Mid-American Conference championship on Saturday (2 p.m.) when it plays at Akron in the league opener.

The Chippewas finished a very respectable 7-4 against a rugged nonconference slate that included several top mid-major programs along with Louisville, which is now ranked seventh in the nation.

"The message is we have to keep getting better every day, everybody's got to get better, we can't have a day off," first-year CMU coach Heather Oesterle said. "We're going to get everybody's best shot. We have the target on our backs."

Last Time Out
CMU saw its win streak end at seven games with a 64-58 loss at Central Florida on Monday. To the good, the Chippewas cut their deficit from 16 points to five with about two minutes to play, giving themselves a legitimate chance to win against a team that features one of the nation's stingiest defenses and has won 18 of its last 19 home games.

On the flip side, the Chippewas committed a season-high 24 turnovers, were held to a season-low .379 field goal percentage, and their 58 points tied their season low.

UCF is 43^rd nationally in points allowed per game (56.8) and the Knights gave the Chippewas exactly what Oesterle said she expected: A stiff challenge that forced them to adjust on the fly, a trait that unquestionably will help CMU in the long run.

"We've been working a lot on playing without the basketball," Oesterle said. "There are times when teams take us out of what we want to do, and I can't call a play; we just have to play basketball."

Leaders
CMU junior guard Micaela Kelly was named the MAC West Player of the Week on Tuesday. It marks the third-consecutive week that Kelly has earned the honor.

Over her last four games, Kelly has averaged 26.7 points while making 74 percent (20 of 27) of her 3-point attempts and 63.9 percent of her field goals (39 of 61) overall.

Kelly is scoring at a 23.6 points-per-game clip, which ranks third in the nation and first in the MAC. She his knocking down 3-pointers at a 47.7 percent rate, ranking 11^th nationally in that category.

Freshman point guard Molly Davis has continued to make a quick adjustment to the college game, averaging 12.4 points and ranking third in the MAC with 4.7 assists per game.

"With (Kelly) and Molly and the way that they're playing right now -- people have tried all different defenses on them," Oesterle said. "They make people around them better. Going into conference play and going into postseason play, it's your guard play that wins you games. I think we can compete with anybody when it comes to guard play."

Sharing the Ball
The Chippewas are 42^nd nationally in scoring, averaging 75.2 points per game. They average 15.1 assists per game, which ranks third in the MAC.

"The number of weapons we have and the way we're sharing the basketball," Oesterle said in naming one of the many positives the Chippewas have put on display through 11 games. "Our players have a high basketball IQ; they know that when somebody's hot, they're going to get it to them. I like the unselfishness and the way they celebrate each other. And they're having fun."

Rankings
The Chippewas are 10^th in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll and have an RPI of 55, best among MAC teams. Buffalo (69) is second.

Scouting
The Zips are 7-4 and carry an RPI of 139, which is seventh among the 12 MAC teams.

Melissa Jackson, who is in her second year in charge of the program, returned five seniors from a 16-15 team that finished 7-11 a year ago. One of those, 6-foot-2 Haliegh Reinoehl, leads the Zips in both scoring (14.3 points per game) and rebounding (7.0).

Jordyn Dawson, a 5-11 junior, averages 12.3 points and 6.8 rebounds per.

West Dominance
While the Chippewas are gunning for their fourth straight overall MAC regular-season crown, they are looking to make it five straight in the MAC West. CMU is a combined 61-11 in MAC regular-season games since the start of the 2015-16 season.

The Chippewas were picked to finish first in the West in the preseason poll.

Next
The Chippewas go to Ohio on Wednesday, Jan. 8, in a showdown of two teams expected to be among the league's very best.

The Bobcats, who open MAC play at home on Saturday against Northern Illinois, were a unanimous pick in the preseason poll to win the East and the overall MAC regular-season title. They also received 10 of a possible 12 votes to win the conference tournament.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Molly Davis

Micaela Kelly