NCAA Tournament Central
2018 NCAA Women's Tournament Bracket
NCAA Women's Second Round
No. 11 Central Michigan 95, No. 3 Ohio State 78
Box Score
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Before Saturday, Central Michigan women's basketball had never won a game in the NCAA Tournament.
Now, coach Sue Guevara's Chippewas are headed to the Sweet 16.
Presley Hudson scored 28 points and the Chippewas made 52 percent of their 3-point attempts in knocking off another giant on Monday night, topping Ohio State, 95-78, in the Buckeyes' St. John Arena in a second-round NCAA Tournament game.
Two days after the 11th-seeded Chippewas toppled sixth-seeded LSU, the Chippewas took down the third-seeded Buckeyes - the Big Ten regular season and tournament champions - on the Ohio State campus. Ohio State is ranked 10th by the Associated Press, LSU is ranked 24th.
The Chippewas never blinked and never backed down against either opponent.
CMU (30-4) advances to Spokane, Wash., where it will play second-seeded and sixth-ranked Oregon on Saturday. Game time is TBA.
The 30 wins is a program record and the Chippewas head west after having pocketed the first two NCAA Tournament wins in program history in the past 48 hours.
Cassie Breen added 22 points, Tinara Moore had 20 and Micaela Kelly added 15 for CMU, which outrebounded the Buckeyes, 46-35.
All season, Guevara spoke of going further than last season's squad, one that won a regular-season Mid-American Conference title, but lost in the first round of the MAC Tournament and then in the first round of the WNIT.
What has transpired already qualifies as the finest season in the 50 years of Central Michigan women's basketball. A record 30 victories. Back-to-back wins in the NCAA Tournament - when the program had never won even a single tournament game - and those two wins came over ranked foes.
The tournament wins came a week after CMU won the MAC tournament to complete the league triple crown, which started with the West Division and overall regular-season championships.
The Chippewas used a pair of big first-half runs - the first 20-1, the second 9-0 - in building a 34-21 halftime lead.
They stepped on the gas in the second half, never letting the Buckeyes gain much traction. CMU, just as it did against LSU on Saturday, played like a mature veteran team accustomed to the pressure of the spotlight.
CMU, which trailed in the first quarter, 15-5, made 14 of its 27 3-point attempts.
"We withstood that first punch," Guevara said. "We didn't melt, we just kept fighting and kept coming back. When we go the momentum, in that second quarter, you could see (Ohio State) got tired. Some of their players had their hands on their knees and we saw that and we said just keep running.
"We don't hope we're going to win, we just keep attacking and that's what we did."
CMU pushed its lead to 23, 58-35, with under 3 minutes to play in the third quarter and was up 21, 67-46, entering the fourth. The Buckeyes drew to within 13, 82-69, but Hudson hit two free throws with 2:36 to play to make it 84-69, snuffing out Ohio State's last legitimate attempt.
CMU made 25 of its 27 free throw attempts. Hudson was a perfect 10 for 10 from the charity stripe.
Saturday's opponent, No. 2 seeded Oregon, is 32-4 and ranked No. 6 nationally. The Ducks beat Minnesota, 101-73, in the second round.
Tickets for CMU's game against Oregon on Saturday are $38 and available at Ticket Central during normal business hours (10 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Friday), by phone (989) 774-3045.
Courtesy of CMU's Sport Information Department
