Centralight

18 centralight winter'14 18 centralight winter'14 Year who, even if she never played another minute in a Chippewa uniform, has left a nearly unmatched statistical mark on the program. "It should be a show this year. I'm shooting for a movie-like fairy tale ending. "I feel that with the talent and the work ethic that we have, we should have won all three rings by now, but it didn't happen the way it should have," Bradford says "which is life." Overcoming challenges The players' bonds stem from the victories and the successes and perhaps more so from losses and tragedies. Green was lost to a knee injury at the end of her sophomore year. Bradford suff ered a similar fate as CMU entered the MAC Tournament last spring and was upset in its fi rst-round game. "It was a learning experience, a life experience that I had to go through," Bradford says. "Being injured, I was a coach. I found a new love." An injured Green looked on as her teammates won the MAC Tournament title in 2013 and then lost a fi rst-round NCAA Tournament game. "I cried to myself; I didn't let my teammates see me cry," Green says. "When we got the NCAA Tournament, I really wanted to play. We lost, and I felt like I could have been out there helping, and we possibly could have gone to the second round." Coach Guevara, now well into her fourth decade of college and professional coaching, saw the lesson that both Bradford and Green so painfully endured – and Bracey and Tamm saw up close. "Life," Guevara says, "moves on without you." Each covets being a part of what may be this season. "You defi nitely appreciate it more because when it's taken away from you, you can't do anything but watch," Green said. "It's defi nitely an eye-opener because you could never have a chance to play again. But since you do, take advantage of it, work hard and get back out there with your team." BY ANDY SNEDDON Seniors have taken CMU women's basketball to new heights A CLASS OF In the fall of 2011, Central Michigan women's basketball coach Sue Guevara welcomed a freshman class that brought great promise. Guevara was entering her fi fth year as the Chippewas' coach, and her program had taken a fi rm hold. The previous year, the Chippewas had won 20 games for the fi rst time in two decades, and the team reached the semifi nals of the conference tournament for the fi rst time in nearly as long. Guevara knew full well that based on the collective record of that 2011 freshman group, the foundation was there for something special. "Quite frankly when they came in, I expected that we would take it up a major level their fi rst year," Guevara says, "which is totally unfair to a recruiting class." Jas'Mine Bracey, Crystal Bradford, Jessica Green and Kerby Tamm entered their senior season this fall with the opportunity to take CMU women's basketball to unprecedented heights. "It's defi nitely a now-or-never thing because we're not going to get this moment back," Bracey says. "This is our last year." 'We want to leave our legacy here' The fi rst three years have been exceptional by any measure. The Chippewas are 61-40; they won the Mid-American Conference West Division championship last season, CMU's fi rst regular-season league title since it won the predivisional MAC crown in 1985. The Chippewas reached the MAC Tournament championship game during the quartet's freshman season, losing a one-point heartbreaker to Eastern Michigan. They captured the tournament title the next year, landing the CMU program its fi rst NCAA Tournament berth since 1984. Bracey, Bradford, Green and Tamm comprised four-fi fths of CMU's starting lineup a year ago and all have played critical roles in the team's success. "We want to leave our legacy here," says Bradford, the reigning MAC Player of the 18 centralight winter'14 Crystal Bradford

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