CHICAGO – Senior Courtney Waldon (Sun Prairie, WI/Sun Prairie) (Sun Prairie, Wis.) scored a career-high 25 points with seven rebounds and two blocked shots in the home opener for the Chicago State women's basketball team, but the Cougars (0-2) fell to visiting Milwaukee (1-1) at the Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center by a score of 82-69.
The home team opened the first three minutes of the game with an early 9-4 advantage following a Waldon three-pointer at 16:51 before the Panthers scored nine straight points in three minutes to claim a 13-9 lead with 13:15 remaining in the stanza after sophomore Sami Tucker drained a three-pointer.
CSU then came back to score 13 of the next 22 points in a seven-plus minute span behind five points from Waldon to equal the score at 22-22 at the 5:43 mark. Freshman Courtney Lindfors scored five points of a slim 5-3 Milwaukee run that closed out the first half with a 29-25 lead.
The beginning of second half saw both teams battle through six lead changes and one tie before Lindfors scored four straight points to give the Panthers a 37-34 lead at 15:56 before Waldon hit her fourth triple of the contest just nine seconds later to even the score at 37 apiece. A 16-9 scoring drive by the visitors, led by seven points from Lindfors, hiked its leading margin to 53-46 with 10:21 left in the game.
The Cougars came back to score 13 of the next 21 points in three minutes to close within two at 61-59 at the 7:06 mark after a basket from senior Elana Wroten (Chicago, IL/Morgan Park) (Chicago, Ill.). Milwaukee then produced a 16-4 run in a four-plus minute stretch to take its biggest lead of the game at 77-63 following a layup by senior Lindsay Laur at 2:53. CSU would get no closer than 10 points the rest of the way.
Senior Caila Desroches (Long Island, NY/Monroe CC) (Long Island, N.Y.) added 10 points, five boards and two blocks for CSU, while junior Janay Dockery (Detroit, MI/Martin Luther King) (Detroit, Mich.) and senior Tressa Beckel (Waseca, Minn./Wisconsin) (Waseca, Minn.) each posted nine points. Junior Natalie Marlowe (South Milwaukee, WI/South Milwaukee) (South Milwaukee, Wis.) finished with eight points and grabbed seven rebounds.
Prior to the game, Waldon was honored for becoming the seventh member of CSU's 1,000-point club as she accomplished the feat on March 6, 2010 against NJIT at the Jones Convocation Center.
Lindfors recorded a double-double with game highs of 35 points and 13 rebounds in addition to producing three blocks to lead Milwaukee. Freshman Angela Rodriguez added 13 points with six assists and three steals, while Tucker and Laur posted 10 points apiece.
Chicago State returns to action this Sunday afternoon as it travels to Evanston, Ill., for a non-conference showdown against Northwestern at Welsh-Ryan Arena with a start time of 2 p.m.
~CSU~
