Central Michigan breaks Miami's Win Streak, Win 69-66 in Dramatic Fashion
By: Zachary Green
Photos Courtesy of Miami Athletics
The Miami Redhawks fell short to the Central Michigan Chippewas 69-66 in a close-fought overtime battle. The win helped solidify the Chippewas MAC tournament hopes as a possible 7th or 8th seed.
“You have to give them credit. They were just nastier to the ball, 22 offensive rebounds that was the difference.” Coach Glenn Box said after the game.
CMU controlled the glass for the whole game, outrebounding Miami 53-33.
Sophomore Amber Tretter fought on the glass for Miami as long as she could. She registered 11 points and 12 rebounds before fouling out with 3:30 left in the fourth quarter.
The Chippewas were led by a strong performance from Madi Morson with 16 points. Ayanna-Sarai Darrington was a point off a double-double with 9 points and 16 rebounds which fueled the dominating glass game from them.
Miami’s offense thrived in the 2nd and 3rd quarter, shooting 53% from the field in each, but completely fell apart shooting just a mere 23% in the 4th. Central Michigan took advantage, rattling off a 15-0 run to take a late lead.
How it Happened
Back-to-back threes from Singer and Chandler got the scoring started early for the Redhawks. After an Amber Tretter layup, the Chippewas called timeout just two minutes into the game after missing their first five shots. The Redhawks extended their lead to 11 after Enjulina Gonzalez's midrange and Ilse de Vries' three.
The scoring stopped there as neither team managed to find a basket for over 2 minutes. That streak ended with a Demetria Prewitt layup, dished from Jess Lawson. After starting the game 4/4 from the field, the Redhawks went 1/11, allowing CMU to cut the lead to three.
Cori Lard opened up the 2nd quarter by making her first two shots to give Miami a 21-15 lead. Central Michigan struggled on offense, shooting just 2-13 to open the second quarter, but pulled down 7 offensive rebounds to wear Miami’s defense down with extra possessions. Ayanna-Sarai Darrington helped keep the Chippewas close, scoring 6 to help close out the first half. Miami went into the break up 29 to 27.
Madi Morson opened up the 2nd half scoring for the Chippewas, which sparked a 5-0 run to give CMU their first lead of the game. The RedHawks responded with an 11-0 run. Consecutive Cori Lard steals set up back-to-back buckets from Gonzalez and Chandler to help Miami take a 4-point lead into the media timeout. Chandler came out of the break with another three, and Gonzalez finished through contact for an and-one.
Amber Tretter helps cap off the 3rd quarter with a corner three, which notched her the double-double with a quarter left to play. The Redhawks had a strong quarter, making their last 4-5 from the field. The Redhawks went into the 4th up 50-44.
After trading possessions to start the 4th, Enjulina Gonzalez converted a fancy layup followed by a Lisa Tesson three for the Chippewas. After the media break, Jess Lawson scored 5 straight to even the score at 54. Strong defense from CMU kept the Redhawks scoreless the last 3 minutes heading into another media timeout.
Coming out of the break, CMU still kept the Redhawks scoreless, notching a 15-0 run, which forced another quick Miami timeout with just under 2 to play. Out of the break, Singer hit a big three to cut the deficit to three with 55 seconds on the clock.
A strong defensive stop from the Redhawks gave them a chance with 22.3 on the clock. Coming out, Katey Richason hit a huge game-tying three to even it out at 60. CMU advanced the ball to give them the last shot with 6.8 left on the clock. With time expiring, Madi Morson missed the potential buzzer-beater to send the game into overtime.
CMU got the scoring started in overtime with help from their offensive boards. The Redhawks called timeout with just over a minute left down 5 in hope to spark some offense. A Lard layup out of the break helped bring Miami within one score. Two Maya Chandler free throws brought the score within 1 heading into another timeout.
Miami sent CMU to the line out of the timeout to put the Chippewas up 3 with 11.2 left in overtime. After struggling to find an open shooter, the Redhawks ran out of time and fired up a desperation three that fell short as the clock expired.
Up Next
The Redhawks look to finish the regular season on a high note vs NIU this Saturday. The last time these two faced off was in DeKalb where Miami came out on top 73-52. The Redhawks hope to finish off the conference play with a similar result after dropping a tough one to the Chippewas.
The game will be played at 1 PM and live-streamed to ESPN+.