Box Score CHICAGO -- Despite falling behind by nearly 20 points in the first half, the Chicago State Cougars bounced back with an incredible second half performance, before dropping the contest to Utah Valley just 70-65.
UVU jumped out to a commanding seven point lead in the opening minutes of action tonight. While the Wolverines out shot the Cougars 53.3 percent to 46.7 in the first frame, CSU's own
Destinee Pointer (Waxahatchie, Texas/Waxahatchie) (Waxahatchie, Texas/Waxahatchie)
would be the one to
drain a clutch buzzer-beater three-pointer at the end of the quarter, to pull CSU within six, at 21-15.
Pointer's buzzer-beater electrified the Cougar bench, as CSU opened up the second quarter with a swift fast break layup from junior
Alexandria Cliff (Manitowoc, Wis./Roncalli) (Manitowac, Wis./Roncalli). Chicago State had gas left in the tank too, with
Tiana Thomas (Rockton, Ill./Hononegah) (Rockton, Ill./Hononegah) forcing a UVU turnover, followed by
Ines Mata Boix (Madrid, Spain/) (Madrid, Spain) converting the two-point field goal inside the paint. Down by four at 23-19, Cliff netted a step-back jumper off a Thomas assist which made it a two-point game.
Over the remaining 7:38 in the first half, Utah Valley's offense exploded as the team went on a 25 to six-point scoring run over the Cougars, to head into the halftime break with a comfortable 48-27 lead.
CSU came out with the hot-hand, going 9-of-13 from the field in the third quarter while the team's defense allowed UVU to take only three shots from the field over the 10-minute span.
With 4:56 to go in the third,
Kourtney Crane (Peoria, Ill./Richwoods) (Peoria, Ill./Richwoods) and
Tyeshia Bowers (Flint, Mich./Southwestern) (Flint, Mich./Southwestern) combined for a steal and fast break layup on back-to-back possessions to ignite the crowd inside the Jones Convocation Center. With the scoreboard now reading 54-38, CSU ultimately forced the Wolverines into a timeout. Chicago State finished off a night's best eight-point scoring run to close out the third quarter down by just 11, 60-49.
The Cougars once again out shot Utah Valley in the final 10 minutes of play, as CSU shot 50.9 percent compared to UVU's 41.8 percent from the field. However, foul trouble from earlier in the half put the Wolverines in the bonus and the visitors capitalized on it, shooting 19-26 from the charity stripe.
With 2:35 remaining on the clock, Bowers drained consecutive free throws and pulled CSU within just one basket of its opponent, down 65-62. However, a Wolverine fast break layup once again stretched the score to a two-possession game.
Nearly one minute remained as Pointer drove through the lane to sink the layup and convert the and-one opportunity for a score of 68-65, in favor of UVU. But unfortunately, an offensive turnover with just seven seconds remaining in regulation gave the visitors the ball back and was not enough time for CSU to script the comeback.
The Cougars return to the floor this weekend at 2 p.m. (CST) to take on Seattle University inside the Jones Convocation Center.
Online box score to follow. PDF box score can be viewed
here.
