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Wednesday night saw the record books get another adjustment in Mt. Pleasant as Tinara Moore and Presley Hudson’s record-breaking performances led the Chippewas (22-4, 14-1 MAC) to a dominating 91-77 victory over the visiting Northern Illinois Huskies (13-13, 5-10 MAC.)
With the victory, the Chippewas secured at least a split share of the MAC West regular season title. The Chippewas clinched a first-round bye to the quarterfinals of the MAC Tournament in Cleveland, Ohio, prior to tonight thanks to a victory against Eastern Michigan earlier in the week.
Moore lead all scorers with a career-high 36 points and 12 rebounds to pace the Chippewas for her 37th career double-double. Hudson once again orchestrated the offense with shrewd efficiency for CMU, scoring 17 points and dishing out a program-record 13 assists, breaking a mark held by herself and Brandy Rich (12.)
Moore broke her own record for blocks in a season, set in 2016-2017 at 64 blocks, late in the third quarter to set the new mark at 65 with at least three games to go in the regular season before postseason play.
Reyna Frost was one rebound short of a double-double of her own, finishing with 20 points and nine rebounds, including four offensive rebounds, tying with teammate Micaela Kelly for the game-high.
NIU had some contributors of its own in the game, holding steady within the single-digits on the road against CMU in the first three quarters before giving way in the fourth.
NIU’s leading scorer Courtney Woods had a career-high 30 points with six rebounds and six rebounds on the day. Kelly Smith also contributed with 25 points, five rebounds and an assist on 11-of-18 shooting from the field. The rest of the Huskies struggled to keep pace offensively,scoring a combined 22 points, with Mikayla Voight accounting for 13 of those points on 5-of-13 shooting.
CMU will next go on the road to face bitter rival Western Michigan on Saturday at 2 p.m., while NIU will travel to Eastern Michigan to play the Eagles Saturday at 2:30 p.m.