OREM, Utah – Top-seeded Chicago State women's basketball captured its first Great West Conference women's basketball tournament championship here this evening after posting a 74-66 win over third-seeded North Dakota in the title game at the UCCU Center. The Cougars improved their season record to 22-9, while the Fighting Sioux dropped to 15-16.
“When you come up against an opponent for a third time (in a season), you have to make sure that execution is on point. We had to make sure that we executed better (on offense) and we wanted to control the boards defensively,” said GWC Coach of the Year Angela Jackson following the game.
UND opened the game with nine unanswered points in the first four minutes with seven points coming from senior Mallory Youngblut. After freshman Allyssa Wall put the Fighting Sioux ahead by an 11-2 margin at the 14:47 mark with a pair of free throws, the Green and White came back with a 15-0 run in a four-minute span to take a 17-11 advantage with 11:48 remaining in the first half. Senior Caila Desroches (Long Island, NY/Monroe CC) (Long Island, N.Y.) scored eight points during the run, while fellow senior Courtney Waldon (Sun Prairie, WI/Sun Prairie) (Sun Prairie, Wis.) added five points.
“I thought we had a great contribution from Caila and she was absolutely superb,” Jackson stated. She was the GWC Sixth Woman of the Year, but tonight she was our go to player.”
CSU later tallied 16 of the next 27 points during in six-plus minutes to increase its advantage to 33-22 with 4:55 left in the half as senior Elana Wroten (Chicago, IL/Morgan Park) (Chicago, Ill.) scored six points during the run, but UND ended the half by scoring eight of the final 17 points to close within 39-30 entering intermission.
The second half saw that Cougars jump out to a 44-34 lead at the 15:40 mark after junior Janay Dockery (Detroit, MI/Martin Luther King) (Detroit, Mich.) connected on a three-point play, but a 15-7 run in helped the Fighting Sioux pull within 51-49 at the 8:01 mark after freshman Megan Lauck drained a three-pointer. Desroches scored seven points during CSU's 11-3 scoring drive that lasted two-plus minutes which hiked its lead back to 62-52 following a jumper from senior Tressa Beckel (Waseca, Minn./Wisconsin) (Waseca, Minn.) at 5:41. UND would get no closer than six points the rest of the way.
Desroches led four CSU players in double figures with a career-high 25 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field and went 13-of-18 from the free throw line en route to capturing Tournament MVP honors. She added nine rebounds, two blocked shots and two assists on the day. Dockery added 14 points and a game-high seven assists, while Waldon and Wroten each scored 11 points.
Wall paced North Dakota with a double-double of 20 points and a game-high 11 rebounds with three blocks. Youngblut added 16 points and four assists for the Fighting Sioux.
Desroches and Dockery were named to the all-tournament team along with Youngblut, South Dakota's Amber Hegge and Utah Valley's Sammie Jensen.
The Cougars will learn their national postseason fate this Monday night. Check back to www.gocsucougars.com for more information.
~CSU~
