CHICAGO (Nov. 14, 2009) – The Chicago State women's basketball team opened 2009-10 season in the Preseason Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) with a 76-41 first round defeat at the hands of host Bowling Green Friday at Anderson Arena.
The contest marked the first time the Cougars have competed in the prestigious national tournament and are the first Great West Conference school to be invited to play.
Sophomore Jael Peña (Harlem, N.Y.) gave CSU an early 4-0 advantage in the game's opening two minutes with back-to-back layups. The visitors would increase their lead to 7-3 on a three-pointer by junior Courtney Waldon (Sun Prairie, WI/Sun Prairie) (Sun Prairie, Wis.) at the 17:43 mark. BGSU would respond with a 34-9 scoring run for the remainder of the half to head into intermission with a 37-16 lead. Senior Tamika Nurse tallied 16 points and junior Lauren Prochaska scored 10 points during the run for the home team.
Waldon and Peña each recorded layups in the first couple of minutes into the second half to pull the Cougars within 37-20 with 18:22 left in the game, but the Falcons managed to outscore CSU by a 39-18 margin during a 17-minute span to take its biggest lead of the game at 76-38 that concluded with a layup by sophomore Jessica Slagle. Waldon connected on a three at the 18-second mark for the final margin.
Waldon paced Chicago State with 15 points and tied for game-high honors with six rebounds. Peña added 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field, while senior Alyssa Waldon (Sun Prairie, WI/Sun Prairie) (Sun Prairie, Wis.) posted four assists and three steals for the Cougars.
Nurse tallied a game-high 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field to lead four Bowling Green players in double figures. Prochaska added 13 points, six caroms and five assists on the evening while junior Jen Uhl scored 11 points and junior Tracy Pontius added 10 points.
The Preseason WNIT consolation round pairings along with CSU's next opponent(s), dates and times will be announced Saturday.
~CSU~
