CHARLESTON, Ill. – Senior Tressa Beckel (Waseca, Minn./Wisconsin) (Waseca, Minn.) tallied a game-high 25 points in leading Chicago State to capture its first-ever victory in an NCAA Division I postseason tournament after posting a 73-64 win over host Eastern Illinois in the first round of the Women's Basketball Invitational tonight at Lantz Arena.
The Cougars improve their season record to 23-9, while the Panthers finish their season with an 18-13 record.
The visitors posted an early 7-4 advantage in the game's opening 4:16 with Beckel scoring five points. After EIU closed to within 7-6 at the 15:43 mark, the Green and White tallied six of the next eight points to increase their lead to 13-8 with 11:47 remaining in the stanza. The Panthers then recorded nine of the next 20 points in an eight-minute span to slice its deficit to 24-22 at the 3:23 mark, but the Cougars closed out the half with a 10-2 run behind four points from Beckel and senior Caila Desroches (Long Island, NY/Monroe CC) (Long Island, N.Y.) apiece to enter intermission ahead by a 34-24 margin.
Beckel opened the second half with a pair of free throws at 19:51 to increase CSU's lead to 36-24 before the Panthers scored 36 of the next 55 points over a 13-minute span to gain its first lead of the game at 60-53 that ended with a free throw from junior Chantelle Pressley at the 7:06 mark. Senior Courtney Waldon (Sun Prairie, WI/Sun Prairie) (Sun Prairie, Wis.) tallied eight points and Beckel produced six points as part of the Green and White's 20-4 scoring run down the stretch to claim the win.
Waldon finished with 20 points that included 11 second-half points and senior Elana Wroten (Chicago, IL/Morgan Park) (Chicago, Ill.) added 16 points and a game-leading nine rebounds for the Cougars.
Freshman Jordyne Crunk scored 20 points to lead Eastern Illinois and Pressley recorded 12 points.
CSU advances to the second round of the WBI this weekend where it will take on top-seeded Cleveland State, a 73-62 winner at eighth-seeded IPFW tonight. The date, time and location will be announced later this week.
~CSU~
