CHICAGO – Chicago State women's basketball opened its final homestand of the season Thursday evening, but fell to Great West Conference-leading North Dakota by a score of 70-66 Thursday night in a conference battle at the Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center. The Cougars saw their record fall to 10-18 (5-5), while the Fighting Sioux improved to 13-13 (9-1) on the year.
The visiting team opened the game with a 14-6 run in the first seven-plus minutes with four points coming from seniors Whitney Ledger and Mallory Youngblut and later increased its leading margin to 19-6 after a layup from senior Alys Seay at the 8:45 mark.
After CSU scored six consecutive points within a 1:43 stretch to close within 19-12 at 7:02, UND came back with a 13-6 scoring drive in a three-and-a-half minute span to hike its advantage to 32-18 after Youngblut connected on a three-pointer at 3:29. The Cougars then outscored the Fighting Sioux by a 9-4 margin in the final three minutes to head into intermission down by only nine points at 36-27.
A 18-11 run opened the first five minutes gave UND its biggest lead of the game at 54-38 with 15:01 left in regulation following a pair of free throws from junior Corey Lof. The home team came back with a 19-3 run in a 7:03 span, which included seven points from senior Alyssa Waldon (Sun Prairie, WI/Sun Prairie) (Sun Prairie, Wis.), to slice its deficit to 59-57 at the 7:27 mark following a Waldon three-pointer. UND then scored 11 of the next 17 points over the next 6:46 to hike its lead back to 70-63 before junior Courtney Waldon (Sun Prairie, WI/Sun Prairie) (Sun Prairie, Wis.) drilled a three with 10 seconds left for the final margin.
Chicago State received 15 points each from Alyssa Waldon (Sun Prairie, WI/Sun Prairie) and sophomore Natalie Marlowe (South Milwaukee, WI/South Milwaukee) (South Milwaukee, Wis.). Marlowe added seven rebounds and a game-high five assists, while Alyssa Waldon (Sun Prairie, WI/Sun Prairie) recorded four steals. Courtney Waldon (Sun Prairie, WI/Sun Prairie) tallied 13 points with six boards for the Cougars.
Youngblut produced game high totals of 18 points, nine rebounds and five steals to lead North Dakota. Ledger finished with 15 points and seven caroms, while senior Jossy Bergan scored 15 points and five assists.
CSU returns to action on Saturday afternoon when it hosts South Dakota in a Great West Conference battle at the Jones Convocation Center beginning at 2 p.m.
~CSU~
