Central Michigan University
1-10,0-2MAC
Buffalo
7-5,1-1MAC
Comeback effort falls short as Women's Basketball falls to Buffalo, 77-69
1/6/2024 4:21:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Gordon, Jean collect career high scoring performance as Chippewas continue to find their footing
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. — Central Michigan Women's Basketball strung together a furious comeback effort and nearly erased a 13-point fourth quarter lead from Buffalo, but ultimately fell to the Bulls 77-69 on Saturday.
The combination of a tough-to-crack zone defense and blistering three-point shooting from Buffalo resulted in the loss as the Bulls handed the Chippewas their second Mid-American Conference loss.
Buffalo's zone forced the Chippewas into a heavy diet of three-point shots, as they went 7-for-34 from distance, exceeding their previous season-high three-points attempts by eight. Meanwhile, the Bulls shot above 50%, making nine of their 17 attempts from three-point range.
Head coach Kristin Haynie wants to see her team's numbers shooting jump shots lower, in favor of higher percentage shots closer to the hoop.
"That's why we're losing games," Haynie said. "We're shooting 38% overall from the field. We can't win any games shooting that. Tonight, 37%. We took too many threes. We kept telling them to get downhill, punch the gaps and get to the foul line. We were in the bonus early in the third quarter and we wanted to keep getting there but we just settled too much."
CMU converted well when it did manage to make it to the free throw line, however. The Chippewas shot 10-11 from the line, up from their team free throw percentage of 66% heading into Saturday.
While CMU's overall field goal percentage sat right around 37% for the game, the Chippewas managed a 51% performance from inside the three-point line. Of their 69 points, 36 were from inside the paint - an identical number to Buffalo's paint scoring.
CMU trailed by just five points heading into halftime, but the Bulls began to run away with the momentum during the third quarter, using a pair of easy layups to build their lead up to nine. The Chippewas never got to within six points of the lead until 1:33 remained in the game when a floater from junior guard Karrington Gordon allowed them to pull within four.
Gordon set her career high in scoring with 23 points, along with season-high marks in minutes, field goals made, field goals attempted, three pointers made and three pointers attempted.
"She's been really doing pretty good," Haynie said of Gordon. "She's having more of an offensive mindset. Her and Taylor Anderson. We want them both, they're very talented. So we need them to be more offensive minded, and they have been. So we're gonna continue to build on that."
While they didn't get the result they wanted, the team fed off of the energy from the crowd at McGuirk as they were attempting their comeback.
"Yeah, it was awesome," Haynie said. "We love our fans and it was very loud. They're our sixth man. It's just too bad we couldn't pull out a victory in one of these two home games we had. But we gotta go out on the road and be road warriors and come back with two wins."
CMU got a spark from sophomore guard Alina Anderson, who registered her first points as a Chippewa and ended with eight points on a perfect 3-for-3 including two three-pointers. Anderson logged a season-high 21 minutes after playing no more than eight minutes in any other game this season.
"She definitely earned it," Haynie said of Anderson's minutes. "She's in the gym. She's asking us questions all the time. 'What can I do to get better? I want to help this team.' It's not luck that she was due for three. So she's earned it, and she's going to keep earning it."
Graduate forward Nadège Jean made her mark on the contest with an 18-point, 10-point double-double. On top of that, she registered two blocks and two steals each while shooting an efficient 6-for-9 from the floor.
Additionally, sophomore guard Taylor Anderson filled up the stat sheet with six points, six rebounds and a team-high four assists.
CMU will hit the road for a two-game trip starting next Wednesday (Jan. 10) when the Chippewas travel to Akron to take on the Zips. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.
— CMU —
