Central Michigan University
4-14,2-6MAC
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Western Michigan
8-10,3-5MAC
Women’s basketball bounces back to top Western at home, 53-45
1/27/2024 4:27:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Chippewas hold Broncos under 30% shooting in win; Late-game heroics from Tesson bolster finish
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. — Central Michigan Women's Basketball found itself on the winning end of a defensive battle on Saturday when the Chippewas topped conference rival Western Michigan 53-45 for its first home win of the conference schedule.
The win marked a sweep of the Broncos on the day, as Men's Basketball closed out a win over Western in Kalamazoo just minutes after.
From start to finish, CMU made life difficult for WMU. The Chippewas held the Broncos to 16-for-58 (27.6%) while blocking eight shots and registering another seven steals.
Head coach Kristin Haynie emphasized how well her team did of keeping Western's offensive threats in check throughout the contest. Graduate guard Kaitlin Zarycki – the Broncos' scoring leader on the season – was held to nine points on 4-of-13 shooting.
"Our players locked in on the defensive end from the start, keeping their best player in check," she said. "(Zarycki) is really good player, she's efficient. You know, she's a 50/40/90 player, and that doesn't happen very often – 50% overall, 40% from three and 90% from the free throw line. She's efficient, very great, and I thought our girls did a really good job of denying her the ball and making it hard for her to score. She got away from us a couple of times, but overall, we did a really good job playing team basketball."
While the defensive performance by CMU was certainly a team effort, a few individual Chippewas stood out on the defensive end. Graduate center Rochelle Norris registered three blocks and helped hold the Broncos to their poor shooting.
However, Norris credited her contributions to coach Haynie's defensive philosophies that she has instilled into her team.
"Coach (Haynie) focuses on defense, that's our identity," Norris said. "That's what she tells us all the time. Defense is a pride thing. Nobody wants to get scored on by someone. We're always taking it personal."
Norris rounded out her stat line on the day with a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds.
It wasn't all perfect, as CMU's offense shot under 40% from the floor. But even in moments where the offense stagnated, the Chippewas' defense was there to pick up the slack. CMU also helped itself out by crashing the boards and outrebounding WMU 46-30.
"There was a big emphasis (on) defensive rebounding," Haynie said. "Second and third quarter, there was a little lapse on offense, we were stagnant. But it didn't affect our defense, which was good."
Despite the lapses Haynie mentioned – which saw the Chippewas shoot below 40% in quarters two and three – CMU shot nearly 50% in the fourth quarter and closed out the game very strong. It was an important step for a young roster that has struggled to close out games at times this season.
Norris and junior guard Lisa Tesson are among the most experienced players on the team. Both have seen their share of ups and downs but know they can use this game as a teaching point to build off of for the rest of the roster.
"Honestly, just reminding them what it feels like (to win)," Norris said of the importance of this game for the younger players. "(Nadège Jean) had sent a text (to the team) a few days ago talking about the Eastern Game. She was like 'remember how it felt when we won'. And I think we're just going to have to use this as motivation to remind ourselves that we can do this and we are built for this. We can play with teams. We've been struggling with closing the fourth quarter, but today we did that and I'm proud of my team."
"I feel like we did a better job of helping each other in the second half of the game," Tesson added. "Just help the helper (on defense), get your hands up, communicating."
Tesson contributed a season-high 12 points on an efficient 4-of-5 shooting performance. Five of those points came in crunch time with less than a minute remaining. She also hauled in a season-high eight rebounds.
Junior guard Karrington Gordon did her part to fill up the stat sheet with eight points, four rebounds, four assists and a pair of blocks and steals each.
Looking ahead on the schedule, the Chippewas hit the road for a pair of games next week. The first will be next Wednesday (Jan. 31) in Oxford, Ohio as CMU take on Miami (OH) for a 7 p.m. ET contest.
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