Cougars Win Close Battle Against SIU 55-51

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CARBONDALE, Ill. – Sophomore Jasmine Sanders (Country Club Hills, Ill./Hillcrest) scored a career-high 14 points as the Chicago State Cougars picked up their second win of the season, defeating the Southern Illinois Salukis 55-51 at the SIU Arena on Friday (Dec. 20).

Sanders' 14 points led the Cougars as junior Chanel Wilson-Stewart (Hillside, Ill./St. Joseph's) pitched in 11 points, three rebounds, three blocks and three steals in the victory. Tierra Williams (Detroit, Mich./Lathrup) scored 12 points off the bench including five free throws in the final three minutes to help the Cougars to the win.

After falling behind 6-5 in the first three minutes of the game,  Chicago State rattled off seven straight points, capped by Tierra Williams (Detroit, Mich./Lathrup)' three-pointer at the 14:27 mark. The Cougars continued to lead until SIU's Sidney Goins' jumper with 6:11 remaining gave the Salukis a 20-19 advantage. Sanders quickly answered with a three-pointer with 4:55 to go, but the Salukis jumped in front and led 28-25 at halftime.

Angela Jackson's squad started off fast in the second half, scoring the first six points of the stanza which led to a SIU timeout with 18:37 to go. Southern Illinois responded with a three-pointer by Sidney Goins at the 15:09 mark to lead 33-32.

After some back and forth action, Tierra Williams (Detroit, Mich./Lathrup)' jumper gave the Cougars a 36-34 advantage that they never gave up.  The Salukis cut the lead to one at 38-37 with 9:28 to go, but never got any closer.  

Leading 49-45 with 1:21 to go, Sanders hit a three-pointer as the shot clock was winding down to put the game out of reach.

Sophomore Layne Murphy (Country Club Hills, Ill./Rich Central) scored six points and grabbed six rebounds in the second half to finish the game one point and  one rebound shy of a double-double. Chicago State held Southern Illinois to 22.2 percent shooting (6 of 27) in the second half and 29.8 percent (17 of 57) for the game.

Jackson was happy with the team's defense, saying "Our second half defense was phenomenal. To hold them to six field goals in the second half was the best I've seen us play defense this year."  

Freshman Cailin Nix (Martinsville, Ind./Martinsville)'s play during the game also stood out to the 11-year head coach. "Cailin did a lot of things that don't show up in the stat sheet," said Jackson. "She had a great game that helped lead to the victory tonight." 

Nix finished the game with a career-high four steals to lead the team.

The Cougars improved to 2-8 on the season as Southern Illinois fell to 2-7 on the year. Chicago State takes a break for the holiday before returning to the Jones Convocation Center on Sunday, December 29^th to take on Wright State. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.