CHICAGO – Senior Jasmin Dixon (Detroit, MI/Martin Luther King) (Detroit, Mich.) led four Chicago State players in double figures with 20 points to go along with five rebounds and five assists as the Cougars captured a 78-66 win over visiting Drake Monday night at the Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center. CSU improved its record to 6-7, while the Bulldogs saw their record fall to 6-5 on the year.
The visitors captured an early 4-2 lead after redshirt junior Jordan Plummer's layup at 17:41. CSU would reel off 17 unanswered points over seven minutes with six points coming from Dixon and sophomore Courtney Waldon (Sun Prairie, WI/Sun Prairie) (Sun Prairie, Wis.) to gain a 19-4 advantage with 10:40 remaining in the half. Drake then tallied eight straight points, including four points from sophomore Kristin Turk, to close within 19-12 at the 8:19 mark.
A three-pointer from freshman Janay Dockery (Detroit, MI/Martin Luther King) (Detroit, Mich.) at 8:02 sparked a 19-6 scoring run through another seven-minute stretch that increased the Cougars' leading margin to 38-18 at the 1:56 mark, capped by a layup from junior Alyssa Waldon (Sun Prairie, WI/Sun Prairie) (Sun Prairie, Wis.), who recorded seven points during the run. The Bulldogs scored seven straight points in the final 1:38 with two triples coming from freshman Amber Wollschlager, including a 50-foot buzzer beater, to cut CSU's lead to 38-25 entering intermission.
Drake scored seven of the first 10 points of the second half in the opening 2:37 to come within nine at 41-32 on a Wollschager jumper at the 17:23 mark, but layups from junior Laureen Pierson (Dayton, OH/Northmont) (Dayton, Ohio) and Alyssa Waldon (Sun Prairie, WI/Sun Prairie) hiked up the home team's leading margin back to double digits at 45-32 with 15:06 left in regulation.
Wollschlager and freshman Brittnye McSparron each scored six points as the Bulldogs tallied 24 of the next 37 points in a near nine-minute span that dropped CSU's advantage back to single digits at 63-58 at the 5:08 mark, capped by a Wollschlager jumper. Courtney Waldon (Sun Prairie, WI/Sun Prairie) later connected on a three-pointer at 3:14 to help the Cougars score nine of the final 15 points in the last three minutes of the game which included going 7-of-10 from the free throw line to provide the final margin
Alyssa Waldon (Sun Prairie, WI/Sun Prairie) recorded 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including 3-of-3 from downtown, with a game-high six steals and five assists for the Cougars. Courtney Waldon (Sun Prairie, WI/Sun Prairie) notched 14 points, seven rebounds and three assists, while Pierson finished with 12 points on the night
Wollschlager led Drake with 18 points, four steals and three assists. Plummer and Turk tallied 12 points, respectively, while junior Monique' Jones grabbed a game-high eight rebounds. McSparron contributed nine points.
Chicago State concludes the 2008 portion of its schedule on Dec. 30 with a contest against Air Force at the Jones Convocation Center with a start time of 7 p.m.
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