Chippewa Women Go To Eastern Michigan On Saturday

Saturday, February 27

Ypsilanti, MI

6:30 P.M.

Central Michigan University

Eastern Michigan

Photo by: Keara Chaperon '22

2/26/2021 2:59:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Central Michigan Game Notes Eastern Michigan Game Notes

CMU looks to pick up momentum as it heads into MAC Tournament

By: Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – The Central Michigan women's basketball team will look to snap a two-game losing streak and gain some momentum heading into the postseason on Saturday (6:30 p.m.) when the Chippewas go to Eastern Michigan for a Mid-American Conference game at the Eagles' Convocation Center.

The Chippewas are 13-8 and are in fourth place in the MAC at 11-6 after back-to-back losses to first-place Bowling Green and to Toledo.

CMU lost to Eastern, 70-67, in Mount Pleasant on Jan. 20. Eastern is 10-7 and in eighth place in the MAC at 7-5. The top eight teams earn a berth in the league tournament, set for Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland. It begins on Wednesday, March 10.

Elite Company
Central Michigan senior guard Micaela Kelly became the program's second-leading scorer on Wednesday in the Chippewas' 72-67 loss to Toledo at McGuirk Arena. Kelly scored 21 points, giving her 2,016 for her career. She trails Presley Hudson, who scored 3,309 points from 2015-19.

Kelly, the reigning MAC Player of the Year, is just the third player in program history to have scored 2,000 points. Crystal Bradford, who played at CMU from 2011-15, is third with 2,006.

The Chippewas
CMU has long been known as one of the MAC's most-explosive offensive teams and it enters Saturday's game averaging 76.4 points per game, good for second in the MAC. But in their last two games, both losses, the Chippewas have been held to 67 points. Their season low is 66.

Kelly and sophomore Molly Davis continue to entrench themselves as the MAC's top backcourt. Kelly is third in the conference – and 10th nationally – in scoring with 23.2 points per game; Davis ranks sixth in the league in scoring at 20.4.

Davis ranks second and Kelly is seventh in the conference in field goal percentage; Davis is making 50.2 percent of her field goal attempts, while Kelly is making 47.7 percent.

Davis (62), Kelly (56) and CMU senior Maddy Watters (51) rank first, second and third, respectively, in 3-pointers in the MAC. Watters is the second-most efficient long-range threat in the league, having made 45.5 percent of her triple tries on the season. Davis (.411) is seventh. Davis ranks third in the conference in free throw efficiency, having made 86.5 percent of her attempts from the line.

Chippewa junior Jahari Smith ranks sixth in the MAC with 7.5 rebounds per game. She grabbed a career-high 14 boards on Wednesday in CMU's loss to Toledo and is averaging 10.3 over her last three games.

Scouting
Saturday's game shapes up on paper to be a classic battle between good offense and good defense. The Chippewas rank second in the conference in scoring; Eastern is holding opponents to a league-low 61.6 points per game.

While the Chippewas are led by the duo of Kelly and Davis, Eastern likewise features a pair of standouts in Areanna Combs and Ce'Nara Skanes who were teammates at Putnam City West High School in Oklahoma City.

Combs is averaging 18.5 points per game, ranking ninth in the MAC. Skanes is 12^th in the league in scoring at 16.5; she is second in the league in rebounding (11.0 per) and third in field goal percentage (.490). Skanes is a sophomore who transferred to Eastern from Florida International; Combs is in her second year after transferring from Oklahoma State.

Eastern lost at home on Wednesday to Western Michigan, 66-56. The Eagles posted a 69-59 win over Toledo a week ago after they returned from a one-month layoff.

Next
The Chippewas close the regular season next week and then head to Cleveland for the MAC Tournament. CMU is scheduled to go to Ball State on Wednesday, March 3, and then play host to Northern Illinois in the regular-season finale on Saturday, March 6 (1 p.m.).