Story Courtesy of CMU Sports Information
SAN ANTONIO – It's simple: Score more points, you win.
Outscoring Iowa? Easier said than done. The Hawkeyes average 86.6 points per game, second best in the nation.
And that's what the 12th-seeded Central Michigan women's basketball team must do on Sunday (noon, ESPN) when it takes on the fifth-seeded Hawkeyes in a first-round NCAA Tournament game at the Alamodome. The winner will play on Tuesday against either fourth-seeded Kentucky or 13th-seeded Idaho State.
The Chippewas are 18-8 and last week won their first Mid-American Conference Tournament title since 2018. They are making their third-consecutive appearance in the Big Dance.
Iowa is 18-9 and last week dropped the Big Ten Tournament title game to seventh-ranked Maryland, the nation's top-scoring team at 91.3 points per game. The Hawkeyes are in the NCAA Tournament for the 15th time in the last 20 years.
Scouting
The Hawkeyes, like CMU, have two names that top any opponent's scouting report.
They are Big Ten Freshman of the Year Award winner Caitlin Clark and 6-foot-3 junior Monika Czinano. Clark, a 6-foot guard, won the Big Ten scoring crown with a 26.7 points-per-game average, edging league player of the year Naz Hillmon of Michigan.
Czinano is second on the team in scoring at 19.5 points per game. The leading rebounder is 6-1 sophomore McKenna Warnock. Clark is a 41-percent shooter from 3-point range, an 86 percent shooter from the free throw line.
"We know that we're not going to be able to take everything away from them," CMU coach Heather Oesterle said. "We're going to pick and choose what we try to take away as far as trying to limit their two best players, their touches and their looks at the basket.
"We feel that our offense is going to be OK. It's just that we've got to string together some stops because they're a very, very, very good offensive team."
CMU guard Micaela Kelly is assigned the task of guarding Clark, who Oesterle said is among the very best players the Chippewas have faced this season. That includes Hillmon, who scored 26 points in the Wolverines' season-opening victory over the Chippewas.
"She has depth, she can shoot like Presley Hudson so it reminds me a lot of her, and she can facilitate very well so slowing her down in transition is going to be key," said Kelly, evoking the name of former teammate Presley Hudson, the program's all-time leading scorer and 3-point leader.
Not Their First Rodeo
The Chippewas made a run to the Sweet 16 in 2018 and in 2019 they fell in an 88-87 heartbreaker to Michigan State in a first-round tournament game.
There was no tournament, because of COVID, in 2020. Seven of the eight Chippewas who will suit up on Sunday have played in or been on the bench for at least one NCAA Tournament game. Some, like Kelly, guard Maddy Watters, and forward Jahari Smith, have played integral roles in all of the Chippewas' recent postseason runs, be it in the NCAA Tournament or the MAC Tournament.
It has been a trying year for the Chippewas, who were picked to win their fifth-consecutive MAC regular-season championship in the preseason poll. They finished second to Bowling Green and then beat the top-seeded Falcons to win the league tournament.
The Chippewas went through a three-game losing streak midway through the season and then a late-season two-game skid – including a loss to Bowling Green -- that spelled the end of their quest for a fifth-straight crown.
But they came on strong down the stretch, starting with a double-overtime win at Ball State in the second-to-last regular-season game. They have won five straight games and they have dressed just eight players because of COVID protocols throughout the streak.
"After we won the MAC Tournament, I was excited for our seniors," Oesterle said. "I just felt like all year, like I wanted it so bad for them, just to go out on a high note. I was just glad we were able to do it for them and get them to this point.
"We went through some ups and downs this year which made winning the MAC Tournament that much sweeter in my mind. I got emotional for them, and I wanted it for them."
