KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Senior Tressa Beckel (Waseca, Minn./Wisconsin) (Waseca, Minn.) tallied a career-high 27 points on 11-of-19 shooting and added nine rebounds to lead visiting Chicago State past Western Michigan, 73-63, Wednesday night at WMU's University Arena. The Cougars improved their season record to 2-4 and the Broncos fell to 2-5 on the year.
The Green and White opened the game with a 14-2 run in the opening minutes and later increased its leading margin to 15 points midway through the stanza en route to posting a 37-27 halftime advantage. Beckel paced the Cougars in the first half with a 17-point performance.
In the second half, the home team scored 24 of the first 39 points in the first 10 minutes to pull within a point at 52-51 after senior Taylor Manley canned a three-pointer at 10:00. A three from redshirt sophomore Jazzmyn Harvey (Chicago, Ill./Bellwood) (Bellwood, Ill.) at 8:16 helped CSU score 10 unanswered points in a two-minute span to hike its leading margin back to 10 points at 61-51 that ended with a layup from senior Elana Wroten (Chicago, IL/Morgan Park) (Chicago, Ill.) at the 6:10 mark. The Broncos would get no closer than five points down the stretch.
Junior Janay Dockery (Detroit, MI/Martin Luther King) (Detroit, Mich.) contributed 15 points, four assists and four steals for CSU. Senior Courtney Waldon (Sun Prairie, WI/Sun Prairie) (Sun Prairie, Wis.) added 12 points and posted a game-high two blocked shots, while Wroten finished with a double-double of a game-high 11 rebounds and 10 points along with two blocks.
Manley recorded 19 points to pace Western Michigan on the evening. Senior Breanna Bankston produced 11 points, while sophomore Aurielle Anderson notched 10 points and a game-leading five steals. Redshirt junior Maria Iaquaniello also added 10 points for the Broncos.
CSU returns to the Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center this Saturday afternoon for a contest against another Mid-American Conference opponent in Ohio University with a start time of 2 p.m.
~CSU~
