Lady Broncos close regular season with two wins before falling in first round of MAC Tournament against Ball State University

By Katrina Murphy
Sports Editor

The Western Michigan University women’s basketball team picked up a win against in-state rival Central Michigan University, 64-56, on Saturday, Feb. 27 at University Arena.

Sophomore guard Miami Giden led three players in double figures with 16 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals to help lead the Brown and Gold to their win, which snapped a four-game losing streak.

“Well, we always want to improve every single game and get better as we keep playing,” Giden said.  “I thought we played a good 40 minutes of that game.  We fought the whole entire game, never gave up and worked the ball well.”

Western Michigan came out strong at the start of the game by building a five-point game, but the Chippewas fought back to take a one-point lead, 14-13, with 12:39 left in the first.  A final pair of free throws in the final minute game the Maroon and Gold a 30-28 lead at the half.

The Lady Broncos took a quick start in the second half, taking a 43-36 lead with 14:12 left to go.  The Chippewas fought back and regained a brief lead, 46-43, at the 11:39 mark; however, junior Brenna Banktson scored seven points in two minutes while teammate Kemmy Dominique chipped in a layup to put the Brown and Gold back on top, 52-48.

Western Michigan managed to keep the lead for the remainder of the game.

Freshman DeAirra Goss chipped in 11 points, while Dominique finished with nine points, six rebounds, three assists and two blocks.  Junior forward Ebony Cleary also finished with eight points and seven rebounds.

“It’s always great to beat Central [Michigan] because they are our biggest rival,” Banktson said.  “Especially now, coming into the [MAC] tournament, it’s a great, great win.”

In the final game of the regular season, the Lady Broncos returned to University Arena on Tuesday, March 2 to defeat Northern Illinois University, 54-47.

It was the final home game for WMU seniors Jenny Loney, Sara Vest and Molly Dwyer, as well as student manager Brad Hamlyn.

“I still can’t wrap my head around it that that was my last game here,” said Vest.  “When it got down to the last two minutes, you were like, ‘Wow, this is the last two minutes, that was my senior career here.’  In the timeouts I just kept saying ‘As hard as you can, as hard as you can.’ I just wanted to remember my last two minutes here.”

WMU got off to a 14-4 start to open the first half, taking a 23-19 lead over NIU at halftime.  The Brown and Gold were up by eight with 4:04 left in the half but the Huskies cut the deficit to three after Kylie York sunk a three-pointer with 26 second left.

The Huskies took their first lead of the night, 26-25, after a two pointer by Ebony Ellis at the 14:35 mark.  The lead changed four times and was tied five more times over the next eight minutes.

With the Lady Broncos trailing by two, 40-38, Dominique brought down an offensive rebound and drew a foul after a shot attempt.  Dominique knocked down both free throws which then started an 8-0 run for the Brown and Gold.

Giden knocked down a three-pointer, followed by another three from Dominique which gave WMU a six-point lead, 46-40, with 4:42 left to go.  The Lady Broncos would hold the lead for the remainder of the night.

Giden was the only Bronco to reach double-digits, but WMU had eight players that balanced the game in scoring.  Dominique finished the night with nine points, Cleary finished with eight and Dwyer had seven.  Both Dwyer and Cleary had seven rebounds apiece and Dominique pulled down five boards.

With the win, the Lady Broncos improved to 9-20 on the season and 4-12 in the Mid-American Conference and picked up a No. 10 seed in the MAC Tournament.

On Saturday, Western Michigan travelled to Muncie, Ind. to take on Ball State University at Worthen Arena in the first round of MAC Tournament play.

Despite their tough defense, the Lady Broncos fell to the No. 7 Cardinals, 67-43, deflating their chances of a Mid-American Conference title.

Giden was the only WMU player to reach double figures with 13 points, while Cleary added eight points and eight rebounds.

The Brown and Gold shot only 27.1 percent from the floor and was held to their third lowest offensive total of the season.

At the 7:39 mark of the first half, Giden sunk a three-pointer to bring WMU to within one, 14-13, as the Broncos held on to Ball State for the majority of the game.  The Cardinals outscored the Brown and Gold, 13-2, to close out the end of the first half.

Audrey McDonald opened the second half for Ball State with a pair of back-to-back threes, scoring 10 of her 13 points in the last 20 minutes of game play.

It was the final game for Bronco seniors Jenny Loney, Sara Vest and Molly Dwyer.  Dwyer will leave WMU as the fifth place holder in career three pointers with 119 while Vest holds fifth place in career blocks with 86.

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