Wednesday, February 24
Mount Pleasant, Mich.
5 P.M.
Central Michigan University
13-8,11-6MAC
67
vs
72
Toledo
10-11,6-11MAC
1
2
3
4
F
Toledo
22
13
16
21
72
Central Mich.
7
19
24
17
67
CMU senior Micaela Kelly (left) is congratulated by teammate Kalle Martinez on Wednesday during CMU's game with Toledo at McGuirk Arena.
Photo by: Keara Chaperon '22
Kelly Reaches Milestone; Chippewas Fall To Toledo
2/24/2021 8:09:00 PM | Women's Basketball
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – A milestone for one of Central Michigan's greats.
But it was tempered by a frustratingly close loss triggered in part by a slow start and punctuated with a late cold spell.
Micaela Kelly scored 21 points to move into second place on the CMU women's basketball career scoring list on Wednesday in the Chippewas' 72-67 Mid-American Conference loss to Toledo at McGuirk Arena.
It was the second-consecutive loss for CMU, which is 13-8, 11-6. It was the first win in Mount Pleasant for the Rockets since 2016. They are 10-11, 6-11.
CMU fought its way back from a 22-7 first-quarter deficit to take a one-point lead in the fourth quarter before faltering down the stretch.
"Give Toledo credit, give them credit, they played well," Oesterle said. "I'm questioning our fight. I really went after our senior class today to be honest. Right now, this is the time of year that it's going to be all over for our seniors and where's the fight out of them?
"Usually at this point of the season your seniors are leading the way and there's energy … and it's like (they're) doing whatever it takes, and I don't think we're getting that out of our senior class right now."
How It Happened
The Chippewas' only lead of the game, 56-55, came on a Kelly 3-pointer with 8:42 remaining. Toledo responded with an 8-0 run to re-take the lead, 63-56, with under five minutes to play.
The Chippewas got their deficit to two, 63-61, with under four minutes left, and were within three, 70-67, after a Maddy Watters 3-pointer with 18 seconds left. But they could get no closer and Toledo's Sophia Wiard made two clutch free throws with 14 seconds to play.
The Chippewas made just two of their nine field goal attempts over the final three-plus minutes.
"I thought we got good shots," Oesterle said. "We got offensive rebounds and kickout (3-point attempts) for wide-open shots by the people we want to shoot those."
Leaders
Molly Davis also scored 21 points for the Chippewas and Jahari Smith hauled down a career-high 14 rebounds.
Kelly's Historic Night
Kelly entered the game third on CMU's career-scoring list with 1,995 points. She became the third player to join the program's 2,000-point club when she scored on a steal and layup with under a minute to play in the first half, giving her six points in the game and 2,001 for her career.
She then passed Crystal Bradford in moving into second place on the career list when she hit two free throws for her 2,007th and 2,008th career points early in the third quarter. She stands at 2,016 points, trailing only Presley Hudson, who scored 2,309 points from 2015-19. Bradford scored 2,006 from 2011-15.
"She's a special player," Oesterle said, adding that Kelly selflessly served in a complementary role to stars such as Hudson and Reyna Frost during her first two seasons at CMU. "Last year she stepped into that best-player-in-the-program role and kind of made it her own.
"She's an unbelievable talent. She has the ability to score on all three levels, she can get to the basket, she can hit threes, she's got incredible speed. I'm happy for her. I wish we would have won so that we could celebrate it a little bit more, but it is an amazing accomplishment, especially the company she's in with the 2,000-point scorers in this program."
Next
The Chippewas go to Eastern Michigan on Saturday (6:30 p.m.) and will have two regular-season games remaining after that, at Ball State on Wednesday, March 3, and at home against Northern Illinois on Saturday, March 6. Eastern is 10-6, 7-4, and was scheduled to play host to Western Michigan on Wednesday.
But it was tempered by a frustratingly close loss triggered in part by a slow start and punctuated with a late cold spell.
Micaela Kelly scored 21 points to move into second place on the CMU women's basketball career scoring list on Wednesday in the Chippewas' 72-67 Mid-American Conference loss to Toledo at McGuirk Arena.
It was the second-consecutive loss for CMU, which is 13-8, 11-6. It was the first win in Mount Pleasant for the Rockets since 2016. They are 10-11, 6-11.
CMU fought its way back from a 22-7 first-quarter deficit to take a one-point lead in the fourth quarter before faltering down the stretch.
"Give Toledo credit, give them credit, they played well," Oesterle said. "I'm questioning our fight. I really went after our senior class today to be honest. Right now, this is the time of year that it's going to be all over for our seniors and where's the fight out of them?
"Usually at this point of the season your seniors are leading the way and there's energy … and it's like (they're) doing whatever it takes, and I don't think we're getting that out of our senior class right now."
How It Happened
The Chippewas' only lead of the game, 56-55, came on a Kelly 3-pointer with 8:42 remaining. Toledo responded with an 8-0 run to re-take the lead, 63-56, with under five minutes to play.
The Chippewas got their deficit to two, 63-61, with under four minutes left, and were within three, 70-67, after a Maddy Watters 3-pointer with 18 seconds left. But they could get no closer and Toledo's Sophia Wiard made two clutch free throws with 14 seconds to play.
The Chippewas made just two of their nine field goal attempts over the final three-plus minutes.
"I thought we got good shots," Oesterle said. "We got offensive rebounds and kickout (3-point attempts) for wide-open shots by the people we want to shoot those."
Leaders
Molly Davis also scored 21 points for the Chippewas and Jahari Smith hauled down a career-high 14 rebounds.
Kelly's Historic Night
Kelly entered the game third on CMU's career-scoring list with 1,995 points. She became the third player to join the program's 2,000-point club when she scored on a steal and layup with under a minute to play in the first half, giving her six points in the game and 2,001 for her career.
She then passed Crystal Bradford in moving into second place on the career list when she hit two free throws for her 2,007th and 2,008th career points early in the third quarter. She stands at 2,016 points, trailing only Presley Hudson, who scored 2,309 points from 2015-19. Bradford scored 2,006 from 2011-15.
"She's a special player," Oesterle said, adding that Kelly selflessly served in a complementary role to stars such as Hudson and Reyna Frost during her first two seasons at CMU. "Last year she stepped into that best-player-in-the-program role and kind of made it her own.
"She's an unbelievable talent. She has the ability to score on all three levels, she can get to the basket, she can hit threes, she's got incredible speed. I'm happy for her. I wish we would have won so that we could celebrate it a little bit more, but it is an amazing accomplishment, especially the company she's in with the 2,000-point scorers in this program."
Next
The Chippewas go to Eastern Michigan on Saturday (6:30 p.m.) and will have two regular-season games remaining after that, at Ball State on Wednesday, March 3, and at home against Northern Illinois on Saturday, March 6. Eastern is 10-6, 7-4, and was scheduled to play host to Western Michigan on Wednesday.
Team Stats
UT
CMU
FG%
.429
.393
3FG%
.389
.323
FT%
.739
.818
RB
32
41
TO
10
16
STL
7
7
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
21
FGM
7
3FGM
2
FTM
5
Pts
21
FGM
8
3FGM
4
FTM
1
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
7
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
C
/ Women's BasketballG
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