Lady Eagles fall to Chicago State

From staff reports

TOWSON, Md. -- The Winthrop women's basketball team fell to the Chicago State Cougars 45-41 on Saturday at the Towson Center in the consolation bracket of the preseason WNIT.

“The difference in the game was their offensive rebounding in the second half,” Lady Eagles coach Bud Childers said. “We didn't box out; the first half, we did a good job boxing out. The second half, we didn't box out anybody. We have to compete harder.”

Chicago State (1-3) jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the first three minutes on back-to-back 3-pointers by Courtney and Alyssa Waldon, and led by as many as nine points with 14:25 remaining in the first half on a layup by Elana Wroten.

Winthrop (1-3) finished the half on a 9-0 run that began with Taquoia Hammick's layup with 4:37 left, then cut the Cougars lead to four on a Mary Hathaway layup. Lacey Lyons made it a one-point game with her 3-pointer with 52 seconds left in the half, and then gave the Lady Eagles their first lead of the game, 22-21, with five seconds remaining before halftime.

The Lady Eagles got the second half started with a Hammick layup to take their largest lead of the game at 24-21, but Chicago State regained the lead on a Courtney Waldon's 3-pointer. The Cougars held the advantage for more than 10 minutes before a Hammick layup gave Winthrop the lead back at 33-32.

Chicago State then went on a 10-1 run over the next 2:09 and took its biggest lead of the game at eight points.

Winthrop cut the lead to two points after consecutive free throws by Kathi Ryska with 15 seconds left, but Jael Pena sealed the game for the Cougars with two free throws.

The Lady Eagles finished the game shooting 38.1 percent (16 for 42) and 58.3 percent from the charity stripe. Winthrop shot 16.7 percent (2 for 12) behind the 3-point line.

Chicago State shot 28.8 percent (15 for 52) overall, 53.3 percent (8 for 15) at the free-throw line and 38.9 percent (7 for 18) from behind the 3-point line.

Hammick had a career-high 16 points to lead Winthrop, while Shanice Cole pulled down eight rebounds.

Courtney Waldon had a team-high 13 points for the Cougars, and Wroten had nine rebounds.

The Lady Eagles will return to action at 7:30 p.m. Friday when they travel to Bozeman, Mont., to face Utah Valley in the first round of the Montana State Tournament.