Women's Basketball Holds On For 56-50 Win At Marist

Sunday, November 28

Poughkeepsie, NY

2 p.m.

Central Michigan University

2-3,0-0MAC

Marist

2-4,0-0MAAC

Central Mich.

Marist

Photo by: Jack Reeber '23,M'25 - @jackreeber.raw

11/28/2021 5:17:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

CMU improves to 2-3; plays at Cincinnati on Wednesday

By: Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – Molly Davis scored six of her 21 points in the final five-plus minutes on Sunday as the Central Michigan women's basketball team held on to defeat Marist, 56-50, in a nonconference game at the Red Foxes' McCann Arena.

Davis delivered in the clutch, hitting a jumper with 27 seconds remaining to give the Chippewas a 54-50 lead. She made two free throws with 7 seconds remaining to ice a game that featured 10 lead changes and six ties.

CMU (2-3) plays at Cincinnati (3-3) on Wednesday, Dec. 1 (7 p.m.).

Sunday's win came two days after the Chippewas dropped a 63-57 decision at Northeastern. CMU led by as many as 10 points well into the third quarter when Northeastern went a 21-2 run to seize the lead.

"Definitely we learned a lot in the Northeastern game," CMU coach Heather Oesterle said. "As they went on their run and we were taking quick shots, they were turning us over, and we got caught up in their pace.

"That's just a sign of a little bit of maturity. We need to continue to grow. I was happy with the way we responded (today)."

CMU built a nine-point lead, 39-30, and then held off the Red Foxes when they drew to 48-47 with under six minutes remaining. Davis scored on a drive with 5:24 left and Jahari Smith hit a layup to increase CMU's lead to 52-47.

It stayed that way until Marist made a 3-pointer with 1:10 left to cut it to 52-50. Davis handled the rest, scoring the game's final four points.

Davis, a junior who is expected to be CMU's top scorer and on-court leader this season, scored 32 points – one shy of her career high – at Northeastern on Friday. She entered the weekend averaging just over 10 points per game and showed signs, both on Friday and Sunday, that she is growing accustomed to the leadership role and to being the focal point, Oesterle said.

"A couple times in timeouts today I asked her, 'What do you see out there? What do you think is going to be open?'" Oesterle said. "She's got to be eyes on the court too. I want to hear her thoughts.

"There were times in the third and fourth quarter that I was on her to get us in an offense and I thought she did a much better job of that (on Sunday)."

Smith finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds for her seventh career double-double, while Anika Weekes had nine points and equaled her career high with 15 rebounds.

Most of the points from Smith and Weekes came in the paint, which is also an encouraging sign as the Chippewas' early season long-range shooting struggles continue. CMU made just five of its 29 3-point attempts against the Red Foxes, but a 46-31 rebounding advantage helped offset that.

"Right now, we're figuring out ways to win when our 3 ball's not falling," Oesterle said. "We did get really good high-low looks today and I was really happy with that."

Through five games, the Chippewas have won twice – both on the road in tight games that went down to the wire -- and have shown many signs that the potential is there.

While they returned four veterans in Davis, Smith, Weekes and Kalle Martinez, they all had to adjust to expanded roles in 2021-22 and Oesterle is calling upon several freshmen, including Lisa Tesson and Tiana Timpe, to play significant minutes and make major contributions.

"I'm trying to be very patient with developing the chemistry on the court," Oesterle said. "I do think it's coming. We lost 55 percent of our scoring from last year. It's not going to come overnight. These guys have got to get used to playing with each other. … It's just adding those (new) pieces and I think we'll be alright as soon as we get a few more games under our belts."