CHICAGO – Chicago State women's basketball (11-8) bounced back from a seven-point deficit midway through the second half to post a 17-6 run in the final six minutes en route to a 69-56 win over IPFW (2-16) Tuesday evening in the finale of a three-game homestand for the Cougars.
The home team held a slim 12-11 advantage at 15:47 after a layup from sophomore Courtney Waldon (Sun Prairie, WI/Sun Prairie) (Sun Prairie, Wis.) before IPFW received three-pointers from sophomore Chelsey Jackson and freshman Anne Boese to capture a 17-12 lead nearly a minute later. CSU responded with a 9-3 scoring drive to recapture the lead at 21-20 on a jumper from junior Sarah Black (Fairfax, IA/Xavier) (Fairfax, Iowa) at the 7:01 mark.
The lead would change hand three times in two and a half minutes before triples from sophomore Sarah Haluska and Boese helped the Mastodons regain a 30-26 lead at 3:56, but junior Laureen Pierson (Dayton, OH/Northmont) (Dayton, Ohio) sliced the Cougars deficit in half with a layup at 1:37 as IPFW headed into intermission with a slim 30-28 advantage.
Sophomore Jordan Zuppe canned a three at the 14:34 mark to culminate the visitors scoring 11 of the first 17 points of the second half which increased its lead to 41-34. A 12-5 run, led by eight points from senior Jasmin Dixon (Detroit, MI/Martin Luther King) (Detroit, Mich.), over five-plus minutes helped CSU retake a slim 48-46 lead at the 8:52 mark.
The Cougars then went on their previously mentioned game-clinching run down the stretch with seven points coming from sophomore Elana Wroten (Chicago, IL/Morgan Park) (Chicago, Ill.).
Wroten led all scorers with 19 points on 9-of-15 shooting to go along with five rebounds and three assists. Dixon posted a double-double of 18 points and a game-high 12 boards, while freshman Natalie Marlowe (South Milwaukee, WI/South Milwaukee) (South Milwaukee, Wis.) added 13 points. Pierson finished with a season-best 10 rebounds and six points.
Jackson paced IPFW with 14 points and five rebounds, while Boese contributed 12 points on the night. Haluska posted eight points and junior Eva Ivanova recorded seven points with three blocked shots. Three other Mastodon players recorded five caroms and junior Courtney Reed tallied a game-high five assists
Chicago State will be idle for a week before starting a three-game road swing against future Great West Conference opponents beginning Jan. 29 at Utah Valley with a start time of 8 p.m.
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