DEKALB, Ill. – Junior Alyssa Waldon (Sun Prairie, WI/Sun Prairie) (Sun Prairie, Wis.) tallied a season-best 24 points with three steals and went 9-of-11 from the free throw line to lead visiting Chicago State to a 76-68 victory over Northern Illinois this afternoon at the NIU Convocation Center. The Cougars, winners of their last three contests, improved their season ledger to 8-7, while the Huskies fell to 5-8 on the year.
CSU started the game with a 10-4 run in the game's opening 6:21 with sophomore Elana Wroten (Chicago, IL/Morgan Park) (Chicago, Ill.) scoring four points during the stretch before the home team scored seven of the next 12 points in under two minutes to pull within 15-11 on a layup from redshirt senior Aileen Russow at 11:46. The Cougars later increased their leading margin to 19-13 with 10:26 left in the game on a jumper from senior Jasmin Dixon (Detroit, MI/Martin Luther King) (Detroit, Mich.) and a layup from junior Laureen Pierson (Dayton, OH/Northmont) (Dayton, Ohio).
Russow scored six points as part of a 17-9 NIU scoring drive that lasted over nine minutes to post a 30-28 lead with :31 remaining in the stanza after a three-pointer from junior Kylie York. After Wroten hit a jumper at the 19-second mark to tie the score at 30-all, sophomore Ebony Ellis split a pair of free throws with one second remaining to give the Huskies a slim 31-30 lead entering halftime.
NIU scored six of the first eight points in the first two minutes of the second half to increase its lead to 37-32 after sophomore Mauvolyene Adams hit a jumper at 18:00. A 21-8 scoring drive during a seven-plus minute span paced by seven points from Waldon helped the visitors gain a 60-47 lead with 7:26 left in the game. After the Huskies scored seven of 10 points in two and a half minutes to pull within 63-54 with 4:26 remaining, CSU finished the game by going 8-of-10 from the free throw line en route to scoring 13 of the final 27 points in the final four minute for the win.
Dixon posted 19 points to go along with game highs of eight assists and two blocked shots for the Cougars. Sophomore Courtney Waldon (Sun Prairie, WI/Sun Prairie) (Sun Prairie, Wis.) added 14 points, while Wroten contributed eight points and six rebounds.
Ellis tallied 18 points and eight rebounds to lead Northern Illinois, while Russow posted 13 points. York notched 11 points and redshirt senior Shari' Welton recorded 10 points.
CSU is back in action on Tuesday, Jan. 6 in Columbia, Mo., with a road contest against Missouri at Mizzou Arena with the tip-off set for 5 p.m.
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