CHIPS LOCK DOWN SECOND SEED IN MAC TOURNAMENT
A little payback, some momentum, and a lot of memories.
Senior Micaela Kelly scored 25 points and the Central Michigan women’s basketball team closed the regular season with a 74-68 Mid-american Conference victory over Northern Illinois on Saturday at Mcguirk Arena.
The Chippewas celebrated Senior Day at Mcguirk by nailing down second place in the MAC and the No. 2 seed for the MAC Tournament and they avenged a 31-point loss to the Huskies earlier this season.
“We took it personal,” Kelly said of that Jan. 13 defeat in Dekalb, Ill. “Even though we had a bad start (today), it was about keep fighting; we wanted to leave our mark and how we wanted to be remembered on this court.”
Molly Davis added 17 points and senior Maddy Watters added 14 for the Chippewas, who trailed by 19 points midway through the second quarter and it appeared that NIU might be on the way to posting a second blowout win over CMU this season.
The Chippewas bore down, but their deficit to 10, 37-27, at halftime and then outscored the Huskies, 47-31, in the second half. CMU led just once, and that was 2-0, until a Davis jumper with 7:12 to play gave the Chippewas a 59-57 advantage.
NIU never regained the lead and CMU bumped its advantage to as many as eight points, 72-64, on another Davis jumper, this one with 1:50 to play.
CMU is 15-8, 13-6 MAC and will begin play in the league tournament against the Huskies, 12-11, 10-8, in a quarterfinal game on Wednesday, March 10, at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland. Tipoff will be at approximately 4 p.m.
“That was a good way to go out — Senior Day,” CMU coach Heather Oesterle said. “We ran into a little adversity in the first half. I thought our defense in to the second quarter and in the second half was much more aggressive. We kind of let them do whatever they wanted to in the first quarter. Really proud of the way we fought back. If you look at what they did to us at Northern, and for us to withstand their first quarter, I thought we did a good job battling.”
The game gave the Chippewas a twogame win streak to close the regular season. They won in double overtime on Wednesday at Ball State with just eight players dressed — three of whom fouled out.
“The last two games I think we’ve really come together as a team,” Oesterle said. “We have eight kids and they’re all playing. It’s kind of playing for each other at this point. I’ve really seen some good chemistry with the eight.
“We’ve had to grind out these last two games. It’s not been easy. March is about that; you’re going to have to grind out some games.”