CHICAGO – Senior guard Alyssa Waldon (Sun Prairie, WI/Sun Prairie) (Sun Prairie, Wis.) tallied a game-high 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting and three steals to lead the Chicago State women's basketball team to a 62-54 victory over visiting Valparaiso tonight at the Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center to conclude its four-game homestand. With the win, the Cougars improve their season record to 3-5 while the Crusaders fell to 3-2.
The visitors cut an early 3-2 deficit in the first minute of the game with free throws from junior Ashley Varner and sophomore Betsy Adams to gain a 6-3 lead at the 16:03 mark, but a jumper from sophomore Natalie Marlowe (South Milwaukee, WI/South Milwaukee) (South Milwaukee, Wis.) sparked a quick 6-0 run to give CSU a 9-6 advantage following a layup from sophomore Janay Dockery (Detroit, MI/Martin Luther King) (Detroit, Mich.). Both teams then battled through seven lead changes and five ties for the next 15 minutes before Varner scored on a layup at the 1:01 mark to put the Crusaders ahead by a 30-28 margin. The home team then knotted the score at 30-all heading into intermission after junior Courtney Waldon (Sun Prairie, WI/Sun Prairie) (Sun Prairie, Wis.) canned a jumper with one second remaining in the half.
An 11-6 scoring run over an 11-minute span with five points coming from Alyssa Waldon (Sun Prairie, WI/Sun Prairie) helped propel CSU to a 41-36 lead after a jumper by junior Tressa Beckel (Waseca, Minn./Wisconsin) (Waseca, Minn.) at the 9:05 mark. The Cougars later broke a 51-all tie with an 11-3 run in the final 2:04 thanks to a six-point effort from sophomore Jael Peña (Harlem, N.Y.) to seal the win.
Courtney Waldon (Sun Prairie, WI/Sun Prairie) added 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including 5-of-9 from three-point range, to go along with six rebounds and three blocks. Dockery finished six points, four assists and two steals, while sophomore Jael Peña (Harlem, N.Y.) added six points. Marlowe finished with a career-high seven assists, five points and four rebounds.
Adams led Valparaiso with 18 points that included going 5-of-5 from the free throw line. Senior Lauren Kenney added 11 points, and Varner finished with 10 points and a game-high seven caroms.
Chicago State heads out West to Colorado this weekend to compete in the Air Force Holiday Classic on the campus of the U.S. Air Force Academy. The Cougars will face the host Falcons in their first game of the tournament Friday evening at 5 p.m., Mountain Time. CSU will then take on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m., Mountain Time.
~CSU~
