MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. — Central Michigan Women’s Basketball battled Mid-American Conference contender Kent State in front of a season-best crowd for the 14th annual Hoops for Hunger contest, fell to the Golden Flashes, 77-56.
Senior Jess Lawson (Las Vegas, Nev. / Legacy) and the freshmen duo of Madi Morson (Canton, Mich. / Salem) and Ayanna-Sarai Darrington (Lexington, Ky. / Frederick Douglass) all landed in double figures with 14, 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Each had their sticking point in the contest—for Lawson and Morson, it was combining for 11-for-28 (.393) from the field; for Darrington, it was running into foul trouble early.
“[Lawson] comes out and competes every single day,” Assistant Coach Chelsie Butler said, who filled in for Head Coach Kristin Haynie on the bench Wednesday. “Whether it’s going her way or not, she’s going to play hard and we know that with her, some nights her shots are falling, some nights they’re not.
“[Morson and Darrington] are able to make a lot of things happen. They believe and they trust the process, that’s why you see frustration when things don’t go their way because they know they’re so much better than how they show up at times.”
CMU continued its recent streak of reducing turnovers, winning the margin, 13-11, for the second time in league play, fifth time for the season overall. The Chippewas have allowed fewer turnovers than their previous outing for the fifth straight game.
“What happens is, if you talk about turnovers a lot, they [could] start to play tight and are scared to pass the ball. Then, if you don’t talk about turnovers, they’re turning the ball over 20-plus times a game.
“A big thing that I think is helping now, because we were trying not to talk about it, in practice they’re automatically running. It’s gotten in their head, ‘okay, there are repercussions,’ and I think we’re seeing the results of us holding them accountable a little bit more in practice.”
After posting nine points in the third quarter, Central Michigan went back to the drawing board going into the fourth, drawing inspiration from the local community’s commitment to the annual staple in the women’s basketball schedule.
“There were so many kids here today with how cold it is outside. It was great to have all these people here supporting us. So, we wanted to show them what they saw through the first three quarters was not Chippewa basketball.”
The Chippewas had a 10-0 run on the board at the 7:40 mark in the final period. The scoring run was something for the team to build on going forward, along with recent success in league play.
“They know their potential, they know what it looks like when they show up with that urgency, the effort every night. The biggest positive is that there’s more basketball, and we show up tomorrow and we fix it.”
Central Michigan Women’s Basketball hits the road for visits to arch-rival Western Michigan (Jan. 25; 1 p.m. ET) and Northern Illinois (Jan. 29; 7 p.m. ET) before its return to McGuirk Arena Feb. 1 (1 p.m.) for the A-side of a basketball doubleheader against Bowling Green.
Senior Jess Lawson (Las Vegas, Nev. / Legacy) and the freshmen duo of Madi Morson (Canton, Mich. / Salem) and Ayanna-Sarai Darrington (Lexington, Ky. / Frederick Douglass) all landed in double figures with 14, 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Each had their sticking point in the contest—for Lawson and Morson, it was combining for 11-for-28 (.393) from the field; for Darrington, it was running into foul trouble early.
“[Lawson] comes out and competes every single day,” Assistant Coach Chelsie Butler said, who filled in for Head Coach Kristin Haynie on the bench Wednesday. “Whether it’s going her way or not, she’s going to play hard and we know that with her, some nights her shots are falling, some nights they’re not.
“[Morson and Darrington] are able to make a lot of things happen. They believe and they trust the process, that’s why you see frustration when things don’t go their way because they know they’re so much better than how they show up at times.”
CMU continued its recent streak of reducing turnovers, winning the margin, 13-11, for the second time in league play, fifth time for the season overall. The Chippewas have allowed fewer turnovers than their previous outing for the fifth straight game.
“What happens is, if you talk about turnovers a lot, they [could] start to play tight and are scared to pass the ball. Then, if you don’t talk about turnovers, they’re turning the ball over 20-plus times a game.
“A big thing that I think is helping now, because we were trying not to talk about it, in practice they’re automatically running. It’s gotten in their head, ‘okay, there are repercussions,’ and I think we’re seeing the results of us holding them accountable a little bit more in practice.”
After posting nine points in the third quarter, Central Michigan went back to the drawing board going into the fourth, drawing inspiration from the local community’s commitment to the annual staple in the women’s basketball schedule.
“There were so many kids here today with how cold it is outside. It was great to have all these people here supporting us. So, we wanted to show them what they saw through the first three quarters was not Chippewa basketball.”
The Chippewas had a 10-0 run on the board at the 7:40 mark in the final period. The scoring run was something for the team to build on going forward, along with recent success in league play.
“They know their potential, they know what it looks like when they show up with that urgency, the effort every night. The biggest positive is that there’s more basketball, and we show up tomorrow and we fix it.”
Central Michigan Women’s Basketball hits the road for visits to arch-rival Western Michigan (Jan. 25; 1 p.m. ET) and Northern Illinois (Jan. 29; 7 p.m. ET) before its return to McGuirk Arena Feb. 1 (1 p.m.) for the A-side of a basketball doubleheader against Bowling Green.
