MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. — Central Michigan women’s basketball tips off its season late Monday morning at McGuirk Arena, hosting Old Dominion at 11 a.m. The education day matinee is part of the opening round of the challenge series between the MAC and the Sun Belt, and it marks the first time the two programs have met.
Kristin Haynie, now in her fourth season as head coach, has raised the team’s win total every year she has been in charge. The Chippewas went 18-12 last season, finished fourth in the Mid-American Conference at 12-6 and won 9 of their 13 games at home, but their year ended in the first round of the league tournament with an 89-88 loss to Ohio.
This roster looks very different. Both of last season’s top scorers transferred to Arizona State: Madi Morson, who in 2025 became the first Chippewa in five years to be named the league’s player of the year, and Ayanna Sarai-Darrington. Two more regulars, Taylor Anderson and Demetria Prewitt, have graduated. Leadership now falls to a returning core of Taylor Johnson, Jayda Mosley, Riley Smith and Lilah Turnbull.
Six newcomers join, four of them transfers. Guards Summer and Indya Davis, twin sisters from Detroit who won two Division I state titles at West Bloomfield High, arrive from Georgetown. Neveah Williams comes over from Davenport, where she started 23 games and averaged a team-best 13 points.
Old Dominion, coached by DeLisha Milton-Jones, brought in 13 transfers and was picked sixth in the Sun Belt preseason coaches poll. The Monarchs routed Christopher Newport 90-54 in a tune-up, with Shadasia Brackens and Trinity Vance scoring 16 points each.
A hard nonconference run follows. Central Michigan plays five Power Four teams, including road games at Ohio State, Minnesota and Purdue, and Michigan visits McGuirk Arena on Nov. 16 for the first time since 2021.
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