DEKALB, Ill. – Senior Tressa Beckel (Waseca, Minn./Wisconsin) (Waseca, Minn.) led four Chicago State players in double figures with 15 points and a game-high three blocks, but the visiting Cougars fell to host Northern Illinois here today by a close score of 68-64 at NIU's Convocation Center. The Huskies improved to 4-2, while CSU saw its record drop to 1-4.
NIU claimed a 41-29 halftime lead behind 14 points from senior Marke Freeman and 10 points from senior Ebony Ellis that included opening the game with a 12-4 run in the first four minutes.
The visitors rebounded in the second half by scoring 26 of the stanza's first 40 points over 12 minutes to even the score at 53-53 after junior Janay Dockery (Detroit, MI/Martin Luther King) (Detroit, Mich.) connected on a three-pointer at the 8:25 mark. The Huskies used an 8-4 scoring drive in the next four minutes to regain the lead at 61-57 with 4:53 left in regulation that ended with a pair of free throws from Ellis.
CSU later scored five unanswered points in a near three-minute span to capture a 62-61 advantage with 2:13 after Beckel hit a layup, but the home team came back by scoring seven of the next nine points down the stretch for the final margin.
Dockery finished the game with 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field and tallied a game-leading five assists. Junior Natalie Marlowe (South Milwaukee, WI/South Milwaukee) (South Milwaukee, Wis.) added 12 points and senior Courtney Waldon (Sun Prairie, WI/Sun Prairie) (Sun Prairie, Wis.) tallied 10 points for the Cougars.
Freeman paced NIU with a game-high 24 points to go along with six rebounds and four assists on the day. Ellis added 14 points and a game-high eight rebounds, while junior Courtney Shelton also recorded 14 points.
The Green and White open the month of December with another road contest as it heads to Kalamazoo, Mich., this Wednesday for a battle against Western Michigan beginning at 6 p.m., central time.
~CSU~
