MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – The Western Michigan women's basketball team suffered a road setback against Central Michigan University on Wednesday, Feb. 26, falling to the in-state rivals by a 76-60 margin.
Western Michigan's effort was led by Breanna Mobley with 19 points and six rebounds. The redshirt sophomore shot 8-for-14 (57 percent) from the field and went three-for-three from the charity stripe. As a team, WMU converted 23 of 57 field goals for a 40.4 percent mark. Three-point shooting for the Brown & Gold was held to just 13 percent. The Broncos struggled against Central Michigan's heightened offense led by Micaela Kelly, who totaled 24 points in the contest. The Chippewas shot 50.8 percent from the field and 47.8 percent from long range, converting 11 points off Bronco turnovers and outrebounding their opponents 35-30.
Leighah-Amori Wool also scored in the double-digits in tonight's game with 17 points, adding four rebounds and a pair of steals. Jordan Walker added nine points and Chelayne Bailey contributed eight.
The Chippewas opened the game with back to back threes, which the Broncos answered with a three of their own, from grad transfer Chelayne Bailey. Scoring was neck and neck between the two teams in the first quarter. With Central Michigan up by nearly ten points, the Broncos came from behind with a 7-0 run to hold CMU to a three-point lead heading into the second quarter.
The Broncos shone in the second quarter, outscoring their opponents 21-16. Freshman Sydney Shafer came off the bench to score points off a layup, followed by free throw shooting from Bailey and more baskets from Wool. Halfway through the frame, Wool came up with a jumper in the paint to tie the game, followed up by two-for-two free throw shooting for Jillian Fletcher to give the Broncos their first lead of the contest. The clock ran out with Western Michigan on the 8-0 run to head back to the locker rooms with a 37-35 advantage.
Western Michigan scored first out of the gate with a layup from Wool, but the Chippewas came up with two big scoring runs to take back, and hold on to, the lead. A 9-0 run was cut short by the Broncos as Wool came up with more points en route to a double-digit performance. Central Michigan responded with back-to-back threes and kept on going, ending up with a 13-0 scoring streak before the Broncos were able to come up with points of their own thanks to a layup by Chelayne Bailey.
Leading 62-49 heading into the final 10 minutes, CMU began the final frame on a 7-0 run to take a 15-point lead and didn't look back, earning the win over the Broncos.
Western Michigan hosts Northern Illinois this Saturday (Feb. 28) for a 2 p.m. tipoff inside University Arena.
