KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan women's basketball team fought tough with the Mid-American Conference (MAC) West Preseason favorite Central Michigan team, but the Chippewas came away with a 94-83 win at McGuirk Arena Saturday afternoon.
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The Broncos fall to 14-9 overall and 5-7 in the MAC while the Chippewas, who are currently ranked No. 25 in the College Insider Mid-Major Madness Poll, improve to 18-6 and 10-2 in the MAC.
WMU led in the early going, getting out to a 7-2 lead at the 6:48 mark in the first quarter, but the Chippewas came back to grab a 12-10 lead with 3:59 to play in the first and never trailed again. CMU led 26-18 at the end of the first and kept their lead anywhere from 4-to-13 points for the rest of the game, never letting the Broncos make it a one possession game.
The lowest deficit the Broncos faced in the fourth quarter was seven points after junior LaTondra Brooks hit a jumper at the 1:25 mark. The Chippewas iced the game away at the free-throw line, where the team scored its final 10 points.
Both team's offenses were working all night, as the Broncos shot 51.7 percent from the floor, the team's third highest shooting percentage of the season and highest in nine games. However, the Chippewas shot 57.1 percent from the floor, the highest the Bronco defense has given up this season.
Brooks, who got the starting nod in the second half, had the best game of her career, scoring a career-high 14 points on a perfect 7-of-7 shooting. Sophomore Breanna Mobley put up big numbers as well, tying a career-high with 27 points on 11-of-14 shooting while she also finished with eight rebounds. Senior Meredith Shipman scored 14 points and hit three 3-pointers, making this the eighth consecutive game she's made multiple shot from beyond the arc. Sophomore Deja Wimby had a nice game as well, scoring 16 points, tallying eight assists, four rebounds and four steals.
The stats indicated just how close this game was throughout, as WMU won the rebounding battle 28-26 and had 18 second chance points to CMU's eight. The Chippewas shot 23-for-30 from the free-throw line while the Broncos were 17-of-21. The Broncos finished with more turnovers however, 17-14.
The Broncos will stay on the road, heading to Bowling Green on Wednesday, Feb. 15 for a 7 p.m. game. WMU returns home for the Play4Kay Pink Game against EMU on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 1 p.m.
