Chippewas Ride Fast Start To MAC-Opening Win

Wednesday, December 9

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

2 P.M.

Central Michigan University

1-1,1-0MAC

Western Michigan

1-1,0-1MAC

Western Mich.

Central Mich.

CMU's Jahari Smith (21) and Micaela Kelly team up to corral a rebound on Wednesday in the Chippewas' victory over Western Michigan at McGuirk Arena.

Photo by: Benjamin Suddendorf

12/9/2020 6:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

CMU women continue dominance of Western Michigan

By: Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- Picking up where they left off.

Molly Davis scored 20 points on Wednesday as the Central Michigan women's basketball team began its quest for a fifth-consecutive Mid-American Conference championship with an 82-71 win over rival Western Michigan at McGuirk Arena.

It was the league opener and the first win of the season for CMU (1-1), which opened with a 93-75 nonconference loss two weeks ago at No. 25 Michigan.

"Our kids, they just want to play," said second-year CMU coach Heather Oesterle, whose team is ranked sixth in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25. "They don't care who it is. Today it was odd to play a conference game this early, but we didn't even look at it like that. It was more, we get to compete against somebody else and we're just very, very thankful for the opportunity."

How It Happened
The Chippewas, who hit 13 3-pointers in the game, got triples from Kyra Bussell and Davis in the final 1:13 of the first quarter in building a 25-16 lead.

Another 3-pointer, this one from Kalle Martinez, extended the lead to 12, 28-16, early in the second and a Rachel Loobie jumper shortly thereafter made it a 14-point margin, 30-16.

Western Michigan (1-1, 0-1) never got closer than seven points the rest of the way. The Chippewa lead was double digits for the majority of the second half and CMU's largest lead, 22 points, came midway through the fourth quarter.

Leaders
Micaela Kelly and Bussell added 15 points apiece and Maddy Watters had 12 for the Chippewas. Watters led CMU with four 3-pointers, while Kelly and Bussell had three each.

Kelly, the reigning MAC Player of the Year, led the Chippewas with eight rebounds and five steals. Davis finished with a game-high six assists.

Key Numbers
The Chippewas made 38.9 percent of their 3-point attempts and finished with 23 assists on 32 total field goals, an outstanding ratio. They committed just 10 turnovers while forcing the Broncos into 17.

Playing to an Empty House
Because of COVID-19, the game was played without fans at McGuirk Arena. It's something that all college teams, in most every sport, will have to get accustomed to at least for the foreseeable future.

But at the end of the day, Davis said, the Chippewas were just happy to get on the court and play a real game.

"It was definitely different but we're all in the same boat," said the sophomore point guard. "I think we're all just blessed that we're able to play right now. It felt good just to be out there."

Dominance
CMU has won seven consecutive game against the Broncos and 12 of its last 13.

Room to Improve
While the Chippewa offense seems to right where Oesterle might expect it to be two games into the season, there was plenty on which to focus going forward. CMU plays host to Cincinnati in a nonconference game on Saturday (noon).

"The offense seemed like it was rolling, but the thing we struggled with was our defense," Davis said. "We bailed (Western) out a lot of times. It's something that we've got to focus on the next couple days here, especially going into Cincinnati."

Oesterle echoed Davis' sentiments after watching her team whistled for 27 fouls. The Broncos committed just 10.

"It wasn't pretty by any means," Oesterle said. "There's some stuff we need to clean up going into Cincinnati. The fouling has got to be a lot better. It was hard to get into a flow on offense, or the flow of the game, with so many whistles being blown.

"I think that's what people are going to try to do to us – drive it, drive it, drive it and try to post up our smaller guards and try to get us in foul trouble. That kept them in the game. It was good to play, it was good to get the win. It's early in the year and we'll continue to get better.

"Offensively I liked our ability attack and kick. I thought we found our shooters really well. We did some nice things. It's just, you know, I'm a coach; there's a lot to clean up before Saturday."

Next
The Bearcats (1-1), who play host to Marquette on Thursday, promise to pose a stiff test.

Cincinnati finished 22-10 last season including 11-5 in the American Athletic Conference. They finished second in the conference behind perennial power UConn, losing to the Huskies in the league tournament championship game.