Chippewa Women Welcome Cincinnati

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – It's back to the nonconference for the Central Michigan women, but the goal remains the same: win and get better with an eye toward March.

The Chippewas will take on Cincinnati on Saturday (noon) at McGuirk Arena. The game is the opener of a basketball doubleheader in the home of the Chippewas. The CMU men are slated to play Valparaiso at 4:30 p.m.

The CMU women (1-1) are coming off an 82-71 victory over Western Michigan in their Mid-American Conference opener on Wednesday. Sophomore guard Molly Davis scored 21 points to lead four Chippewas in double figures.

CMU made 13 3-pointers in the game and shot 36.1 percent from long range and the Chippewas led by as many as 22 points in the second half.

At the Top
Senior guard Micaela Kelly has joined with Davis in providing a potent one-two punch in the Chippewa backcourt.

Kelly, the reigning MAC Player of the Year, is fourth in the league in scoring at 23.5 points per game; Davis (22.5) is fifth. They are both averaging 4.0 assists per game and are tied for third in the league in that category.

Tough Slate
The Chippewas have long played a rugged nonconference schedule which in part explains their success during the MAC season. They are the four-time defending league champions.

The 2020-21 schedule, when it was compiled, was to be no different. It was loaded with Power 5 opponents and strong mid-majors. The schedule was contracted because of COVID-19, but it remains no less difficult than the original.

The Chippewas opened at No. 25 Michigan – a 95-73 loss – and now have nonleague games scheduled at Michigan State (Dec. 18) and at Dayton (Dec. 22).

The Spartans are off to a 3-0 start and Dayton (Atlantic 10) and Cincinnati (American Athletic Conference) are highly competitive mid-major programs.

Rankings
The Chippewas are seventh in the Dec. 8 CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25. The poll was conducted before CMU's win over Western Michigan.

CMU is one of four MAC schools in the poll. Ohio is fifth, Buffalo is 14^th, and Akron is 23^rd.

Scouting
The Bearcats (1-2) opened with a 73-67 overtime victory at home against Northern Kentucky. They have since lost at Florida, 81-58; and at home to Marquette, 86-75.

Cincinnati features one of the standout players in the country in 5-foot-10 senior Ilmar'l Thomas, who averages 29.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. A two-time First Team All-AAC selection and an Honorable Mention All-American last year, Thomas is making 64.7 percent of her field goal attempts and also leads the Bearcats with 3.3 assists per game.

Cincinnati's second-leading scorer (9.3 ppg) and rebounder (6.0) is 6-3 senior Arame Niang, who is in her first year at the school after transferring from Western Kentucky.

The Chippewas have faced good post players in each of their first two games in Michigan's Naz Hillmon and Western's Taylor Williams.

"We're a playing a team on Saturday that has a good post scorer and they have a lot of kids who can get to the basket," CMU coach Heather Oesterle said. "So how much better can we get defending penetration from (Wednesday) to Saturday? We've been working on our post defense all year; we played one of the best posts in the country at Michigan and we played a really good post (against Western) and we'll play another good one on Saturday."

Next
The Chippewas return to MAC play on Tuesday, Dec. 15 (2 p.m.) when they welcome Miami (Ohio) to McGuirk. The RedHawks are 1-2 after losses to Notre Dame and Ohio State. Their victory came over Valparaiso. Tuesday's game will be Miami's MAC opener.

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Players Mentioned

Molly Davis

Micaela Kelly

Central Michigan University Athletics