CHICAGO – Senior Tressa Beckel (Waseca, Minn./Wisconsin) (Waseca, Minn.) led four Chicago State players in double figures with a double-double of 25 points and 10 rebounds as the host Cougars captured their first win of the season Wednesday night with a 95-52 win over Indiana University Northwest at the Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center. CSU improved its record to 1-3 and the Redhawks fell to 3-2 on the year.
The home team opened the game with a 13-2 run in the first four minutes with six points coming from Beckel and later increased its leading margin to 31-12 at the 10:35 mark. IUN responded with a 15-5 scoring drive of its own that lasted six minutes, led by six points from junior Sharon Houston, to pull within 36-27 with 4:38 left in the game. CSU scored 14 unanswered points in the final four minutes to head into halftime ahead by a 50-27 margin.
The Cougars used a united defensive front to increase their lead in the beginning of the second half as they posted a 34-17 run in the first 13 minutes to take an 84-44 advantage after senior Caila Desroches (Long Island, NY/Monroe CC) (Long Island, N.Y.) scored on a layup at the 7:09. The Redhawks would get no closer than 37 points the rest of way.
Senior Courtney Waldon (Sun Prairie, WI/Sun Prairie) (Sun Prairie, Wis.) and junior Natalie Marlowe (South Milwaukee, WI/South Milwaukee) (South Milwaukee, Wis.) each added 17 points for CSU, while Desroches contributed 15 points and a career-high five blocked shots. Senior Elana Wroten (Chicago, IL/Morgan Park) (Chicago, Ill.) recorded a game-leading 13 rebounds and sophomore Jazzmyn Harvey (Chicago, Ill./Bellwood) (Bellwood, Ill.) produced a career-best seven steals.
Houston led IU Northwest with 16 points, nine rebounds and three blocks, while junior Juliette Keller posted 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field.
CSU heads to DeKalb, Ill., this Saturday afternoon to battle Northern Illinois with a start time of 3 p.m.
~CSU~
