Wayland High School alum Presley Hudson pumped in 28 points Monday night to lead the Central Michigan women’s basketball team to a stunning 95-78 upset of Big Ten champion Ohio State in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
The Chippewas, now with a 30-4 overall record, Saturday upended Louisiana State 78-69 for their first tournament win in the school’s history. After landing a berth in the celebrated “Sweet 16,” they will take on second-seeded Oregon next Saturday.
Central was seeded only No. 11 in the tourney, but took out two top 25 women’s ballclubs to gain the Mid-American Conference a little respect. The Chips won the MAC championship and league runner-up Buffalo also advanced to the Sweet 16 Monday night.
Hudson, a junior CMU point guard, is the daughter of Wayland varsity basketball coach Mike Hudson and sister of girls’ varsity coach Wes Hudson and current Wildcats Ternor and Parrish Hudson and Davenport University cager Avery Hudson. She was Division 2 all-state player in 2015 and runner-up in the Miss Basketball balloting that year.
She drilled four three-point shots Monday night and made all 10 of her free throws. She nailed most of them down the stretch. Hudson has missed only eight free throw attempts all season.
Backing her 28 points were Cassie Breen with 22 points, Tinara Moore with 20 and Mickaela Kelly with 15. Reyna Frost collected 13 rebounds. Hudson also had five assists and eight rebounds.
Hudson has been a high impact player for the Chippewas, owning the single game scoring record with 43 points a year ago. She has scored more than 1,000 points, as she did at Wayland.
