Wednesday, February 22
Mount Pleasant, Mich.
1 p.m.
Central Michigan University
6-20,4-11MAC
72
vs
80
Bowling Green
24-3,13-2MAC
1
2
3
4
F
Bowling Green
28
16
22
14
80
Central Mich.
16
18
15
23
72
Karrington Gordon scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds on Wednesday in the Chippewas' loss to Bowling Green at McGuirk Arena.
Photo by: Sydney Kline '26 - @sydney.kline.photography
Women's Basketball Falls at Home to Bowling Green
2/22/2023 4:29:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Chippewas head to Northern Illinois on Saturday needing a win to stay in the hunt for MAC Tournament berth
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – The message, the urgency, is different now.
The Central Michigan women's basketball team played one of the Mid-American Conference's very best teams tough on Wednesday at McGuirk Arena. That might have been good enough, and the message might have been that it's something to build upon, if it was mid-January.
But with just three games remaining and the Chippewas desperately fighting for a MAC Tournament berth, it's now or never.
"It's do-or-die time," Central Michigan coach Heather Oesterle said after her Chippewas' 80-72 loss to league co-leading Bowling Green. "We've got to put it together on Saturday. Three games left for our seniors. My whole thing was to get our seniors to the MAC Tournament and a chance to compete for a championship again. It's go time, for sure."
The Chippewas are 6-20, 4-11 MAC and are among six teams vying for the final two tournament spots.
A trip to Cleveland isn't out of the question, but CMU almost certainly has to win its final three games, beginning on Saturday (2 p.m. ET) at Northern Illinois.
"We're not out of the mix," Oesterle said. "That's the good thing. We lost to a really good team (today) and we have another three opportunities and I think we're playing pretty well.
"We've just got to put four quarters together and we can't allow people to score that many points off turnovers."
The Chippewas did play well, in spurts, on Wednesday against the Falcons (24-3, 13-2). CMU fell behind early as Bowling Green made 11 of its first 12 field goal attempts.
The Chippewas continued to battle and got their deficit to seven points twice in the final minute, but they couldn't get over the hump against an extremely balanced, experienced and poised Bowling Green squad.
CMU made 11 3-pointers, shooting 61.1 percent from long range, finished 47.8 percent from the floor on the day, and outrebounded the Falcons, 43-34.
But the Chippewas committed 24 turnovers – their season-long Achilles heel – that led to 28 Bowling Green points.
"They press for 40 minutes, that's their thing," Oesterle said. "We were catching it in deep corners and getting ourselves stuck. When we broke (the press) we had good looks, but you've got to be able to break that press and stay out of the coffin corners.
"Our point guards have got to want to get the ball and they've got to get us composed. I thought we were a little frazzled at the beginning."
Bridget Utberg hit all four of her 3-point attempts en route to 19 points to lead the Chippewas, while Sydney Harris added 14 and Karrington Gordon had 13.
Allison Day scored 20 points to lead four Falcons in double figures.
The Central Michigan women's basketball team played one of the Mid-American Conference's very best teams tough on Wednesday at McGuirk Arena. That might have been good enough, and the message might have been that it's something to build upon, if it was mid-January.
But with just three games remaining and the Chippewas desperately fighting for a MAC Tournament berth, it's now or never.
"It's do-or-die time," Central Michigan coach Heather Oesterle said after her Chippewas' 80-72 loss to league co-leading Bowling Green. "We've got to put it together on Saturday. Three games left for our seniors. My whole thing was to get our seniors to the MAC Tournament and a chance to compete for a championship again. It's go time, for sure."
The Chippewas are 6-20, 4-11 MAC and are among six teams vying for the final two tournament spots.
A trip to Cleveland isn't out of the question, but CMU almost certainly has to win its final three games, beginning on Saturday (2 p.m. ET) at Northern Illinois.
"We're not out of the mix," Oesterle said. "That's the good thing. We lost to a really good team (today) and we have another three opportunities and I think we're playing pretty well.
"We've just got to put four quarters together and we can't allow people to score that many points off turnovers."
The Chippewas did play well, in spurts, on Wednesday against the Falcons (24-3, 13-2). CMU fell behind early as Bowling Green made 11 of its first 12 field goal attempts.
The Chippewas continued to battle and got their deficit to seven points twice in the final minute, but they couldn't get over the hump against an extremely balanced, experienced and poised Bowling Green squad.
CMU made 11 3-pointers, shooting 61.1 percent from long range, finished 47.8 percent from the floor on the day, and outrebounded the Falcons, 43-34.
But the Chippewas committed 24 turnovers – their season-long Achilles heel – that led to 28 Bowling Green points.
"They press for 40 minutes, that's their thing," Oesterle said. "We were catching it in deep corners and getting ourselves stuck. When we broke (the press) we had good looks, but you've got to be able to break that press and stay out of the coffin corners.
"Our point guards have got to want to get the ball and they've got to get us composed. I thought we were a little frazzled at the beginning."
Bridget Utberg hit all four of her 3-point attempts en route to 19 points to lead the Chippewas, while Sydney Harris added 14 and Karrington Gordon had 13.
Allison Day scored 20 points to lead four Falcons in double figures.
Team Stats
BGSU
CMU
FG%
.408
.473
3FG%
.316
.611
FT%
.842
.643
RB
34
43
TO
8
24
STL
11
5
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
19
FGM
5
3FGM
4
FTM
5
Pts
14
FGM
5
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
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