KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Western Michigan women's basketball team held strong but were unable to earn the upper hand over undefeated in-state rival Central Michigan, falling 70-80 on January 18 inside University Arena.
Despite Western Michigan holding a strong lead including a ten-point advantage heading into the final frame, the Chippewas took over at the eight-minute mark of the fourth quarter. CMU unleashed a 14-point scoring streak, shutting out the Broncos for four minutes of play. Despite a late-quarter surge from WMU that included a 9-4 scoring advantage, the Brown & Gold could not overcome their late scoring deficit.
CMU shot 9-for-27 from beyond the arc held a narrow 38-36 advantage in rebounds, limiting WMU to just 7-of-25 shooting from long range and forcing 12 turnovers. The Broncos shot 28-of-69 from the field, with a game-high 32 points in the paint and 14 points off Chips turnovers.
Junior transfer
Reilly Jacobson led Western Michigan with a career-high 20-point performance, leading and scoring all points for the Bronco bench. She added three rebounds, one block and an assist to the scoresheet. Redshirt senior
Breanna Mobley tallied four points and a season-high 16 rebounds, pushing her closer to the 1,000-rebound mark with 985 total in her career. She led the Broncos with a season-high seven assists, and two blocks. Four Bronco starters scored in double-digits,
Jordan Walker and
Kamrin Reed each tallying 12, while Leighah Amori-Wool and
Chelayne Bailey had 11.
Scoring was tight in the first quarter, with a 12-12 tie at the time of the first timeout off of a three form Walker and four straight points from Wool. CMU responded as Micaela Kelly scored 12 solo points for the team, but Western was able to take a 19-18 lead into the second quarter as Bailey made a buzzer-beating jumper to end the frame.
The Broncos shot out of the gate with a 7-0 run to start the second stanza, off scoring from Reed, Jacobson and Bailey. CMU drew up three straight three-pointers to come within a point of Western Michigan just before the Broncos scored on another pair of layups to to maintain their one-point lead heading into halftime. Scoring this quarter was kept even at 14 points from both sides.
The third quarter saw WMU's best scoring of the game. Around four minutes into the quarter, a Bronco timeout sparked a 10-0 run capped off by Reed's second three of the night and Jacobson's first, as the team took their largest lead of the game, 55-44. It stood as the closest margin of the contest as the Chippewas found their stride in the final minutes of the next quarter.
Despite six solo points from Jacobson and another three from Wool, CMU outshot the Broncos 31-15 in the fourth quarter on the way to their best scoring run of the game to earn the win and remain undefeated. Saturday's contest saw a total of 14 lead changes and five ties, WMU holding an advantage of 21 minutes with the lead.
Next up the Broncos return to the road to take on Bowling Green State University, at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, January 22.
