Preseason Media Day: Big Pieces Return as CMU Women Seek to Continue Rise to MAC Elite

Photo by: Josie Ransley '25,M'27 - @josieransmedia

Preseason Media Day: Big Pieces Return as CMU Women Seek to Continue Rise to MAC Elite

10/22/2025 12:46:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Field of 68: Kristin Haynie & Zareia Chevre Kristin Haynie Press Conference Mitchell, Johnson Press Conference Roster Schedule Media Day Photo Gallery

Morson, Darrington leaders among a slew of experienced returnees; newcomers bring talent and championship pedigree

By: Andy Sneddon

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – First the rebuild and the foundation, then the improvement and competitiveness.

Now? Well, now the expectations mount.

And they're well founded.

The Central Michigan women's basketball team made its first Mid-American Conference Tournament appearance in four years last season, taking a big step in its resurgence under coach Kristin Haynie.

"The goals this year, the expectations, are to make it to Cleveland and make some noise in Cleveland," said Haynie, evoking the city in which the tournament is played each March.

The Chippewas last year had the numbers 2-1-6 – the area code for downtown Cleveland -- emblazoned on their uniforms.

"We still put that there because Cleveland means a lot to us," Haynie said. "We have 'We Are One' on our sleeves too because it's about everybody."

And most everybody is back for Haynie, a former Chippewa assistant who enters her third year in charge of the program. Haynie led CMU to six wins in her first season, 14 a year ago when Madi Morson was named the MAC Freshman of the Year and was joined on the MAC All-Freshman Team by Ayanna-Sarai Darrington.

Morson, who set a program freshman record by scoring 511 points last season, ranked fifth in the MAC in scoring a year ago and was named to the Preseason All-MAC First Team.

"It's really good to see Madi not be complacent and just be like, 'Oh, I got freshman of the year,'" Haynie said. "She just keeps getting better. She worked her butt off this offseason, so we're excited for her growth and now she has players around her (who have) this experience from last year and the newcomers that we have coming in."

The 6-foot-2 Darrington ranked sixth in the MAC with 7.3 rebounds per game and was second with a 56.5 field goal percentage in 2024-25.

Among the other returnees who saw ample playing time last season are
Demetria Prewitt, Jayda Mosley, Taylor Anderson and Taylor Johnson, while newcomers Nekhu Mitchell and Zareia Chevre, both seniors, should contribute immediately.

Last season, the 6-foot Mitchell averaged 5.6 points and hit 46.2 percent of her 3-pointers in 17 minutes per game in helping George Mason to the Atlantic 10 championship while the 5-10 Chevre scored a team-high 18.8 points per game while earning All-America honors in leading Governors State to the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference championship and the Elite Eight of the NAIA Tournament.

"Bringing in that championship mentality was a huge goal for us," Haynie said. "Our chemistry was really good last year, and it's really good this year as well.

"That just goes to show the type of character that we're bringing. The people that have the passion to want to win championships and win games for each other. We have one goal, and it's to win. It doesn't matter who takes a shot, who scores. It's selfless and it's about each other and not about yourself."