CHICAGO – The Chicago State University women's basketball team concluded its home slate tonight at the Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center, but fell to visiting Seattle in a non-conference contest by a score of 81-45. The Redhawks improved to 16-9 with the win while the Cougars dropped to 6-22 on the year.
The visitors opened the game with 11 unanswered points in 1:40 with sophomore Ashley Ward connecting on a pair of three-pointers during the run and later took its biggest leading margin of the first half at 25-9 at the 11:37 mark on a three-pointer from senior Talisa Rhea.
CSU then used an 8-1 scoring drive in a seven-plus minute stretch with six points coming from freshman Paris Williams (St. Louis, Mo./Pattonville) (St. Louis, Mo.) to close within nine at 26-17 with 4:15 remaining in the stanza, but the Redhawks closed out the half with an 11-4 run in the final four minutes to head into intermission with a 37-21 advantage.
Seattle shot 53 percent in the second half en route outscoring the home team by a 44-24 margin and CSU could get no closer than 18 points the rest of the way.
Williams paced Chicago State with a career-best 22 points while contributing seven rebounds and two steals. Junior Caneka Davis (Chicago, Ill./Walther Lutheran) (Chicago, Ill.) came off the bench to record 10 points, four assists, three rebounds and three steals for the Cougars.
Sophomore Kacie Sowell recorded a double-double of 17 points and a game-leading 16 rebounds to lead Seattle, who had five players score in double figures. Rhea posted 12 points and sophomore Brenda Adhiambo added 11 points. Ward and senior Daidra Brown rounded out the quintet with 10 points apiece.
Before the game, senior co-captains Janay Dockery (Detroit, MI/Martin Luther King) (Detroit, Mich.) and Natalie Marlowe (South Milwaukee, WI/South Milwaukee) (South Milwaukee, Wis.) were honored in a pregame senior night ceremony.
CSU concludes the regular season on March 3 in Newark, N.J. as it faces host NJIT in the Great West Conference finale for both teams with a start time of 1 p.m.
~CSU~
