CMU Women Fall To 17th-Ranked Georgia Tech In Season Opener

Tuesday, November 9

Mount Pleasant, MI

6 p.m.

Central Michigan University

0-1,0-0MAC

Georgia Tech

1-0,0-0ACC

Georgia Tech

Central Mich.

Photo by: Keara Chaperon '22

11/9/2021 10:47:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Katherine Schultz, CMUChippewas.com

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- No matter the year, no matter the personnel, no matter the opponent, there is a constant in the Central Michigan women's basketball program: Ambition.

Despite a 74-40 loss to 17^th-ranked Georgia Tech on Tuesday in the season opener at McGuirk Arena, the Chippewas have confidence that the gears will start turning in their favor.

"We just have to continue to stay positive because we are a work in progress," said third-year CMU coach Heather Oesterle, who returned two starters and a key reserve from a team that won the Mid-American Conference Tournament a year ago. "It's not going to happen overnight that we just start clicking.

"The team we had last year was a team of veterans. The team Georgia Tech has this year has nine players back from last year's Sweet 16 team. That's a team that has played together for years, and we haven't."

Oesterle added that she recruits athletes who want the challenge, who want to play tough matchups like those posed by Georgia Tech and 11^th-ranked Michigan, which CMU will host at McGuirk Arena on Nov. 20.

Before that, The Chippewas are set to travel to Valparaiso for a nonconference game Sunday, Nov. 14 (2 p.m.).

"We've got to continue to get people minutes and get them experience in games," Oesterle said. "We have to stay positive; this is a marathon season, not a sprint. It's only our first game; there's nowhere to go from up from here."

CMU found itself in a 19-6 hole after one quarter and was down 34-18 at halftime. The Chippewas trimmed their deficit to 10, 34-24, early in the third quarter, but the Yellow Jackets went on a 16-0 run to up their lead to 50-24 with under three minutes to play in the third quarter.

Senior Jahari Smith made all eight of her free throw attempts en route to 14 points to lead CMU. Freshman Lisa Tesson added nine points in her first collegiate game.

"It felt good, honestly," Tesson said. "I thought I played good because I was aggressive and I wasn't scared to go at them, even though they were bigger."

Georgia Tech made 48.5 percent of its field goal attempts while holding the Chippewas to 25.5 percent. CMU made just four of its 20 3-point tries.

"I thought we had some good ball movement in the second half," Oesterle said. "We were able to get in there and skip it out for a couple of wide-open shots; they didn't go. We're going to do a ton of shooting, I'll tell you that, in the next few days.

"We did get some open looks. This wouldn't have been a 30-point game if we had hit some of those shots early, but we have to stay positive going into (Valparaiso)."