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CHICAGO – Chicago State women's basketball nearly erased a 22-point deficit to Houston Baptist in the opening round of the 2013 Great West Conference Basketball Tournament on Thursday (March 14) evening at the Jones Convocation Center. However in the end the 4
th seeded Cougars saw their season come to an end with a 77-66 defeat at the hands of the 5
th seeded Huskies.
Houston Baptist' largest lead of 52-30 came five minutes into the second half when Shanice Steenholdt scored two of her 20 points. Back came the Cougars though thanks to high-pressure defense for much of the remainder of the contest.
A jumper by sophomore
Paris Williams (St. Louis, Mo./Pattonville) and then a 3-pointer by sophomore
Jackie Jones (Detroit, Mich./Martin Luther King) made it a five-point game at 67-62 with 1:30 to play. However a layup and a pair of free throws on the Huskies' next two possessions gave breathing room back to Houston Baptist.
The Cougars were led offensively by sophomore
Tierra Williams (Detroit, Mich./Lathrup)' 25 points. She made eight 3-pointers in her last game at UTPA and the Huskies took notice, limiting her to just 1-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc. She made up for it with eight field goals within the arc and six made free throws. She helped the Cougars make a season-high 22-of-26 free throws in the game.
“Tierra has figured out how to work out and play at a Division I level,” Chicago State head coach
Angela Jackson said. “(She now knows) at what speed to work out in order to get better as a Division I player and that is why she's been successful these past few weeks.”
Sophomore
Chanel Wilson-Stewart (Hillside, Ill./St. Joseph's) and Jones each had 13 points for Chicago State. Wilson-Stewart also added 10 rebounds for a double-double.
“This was probably Chanel's best game since she came to Chicago State getting us a double-double,” Jackson said.
Steenholdt was one of five Huskies in double-digits. The Huskies shot 54.7 percent (29-of-53) from the floor while Chicago State finished the game shooting 21-of-54 (38.9 percent).
“Houston Baptist was just awesome,” Jackson said. “Those kids played hard, they played smart, played together as a team and quite frankly deserved to win the game.”
Houston Baptist improves to 7-23 and will play overall No. 1 seed Utah Valley on Friday (March 15) at 2:30 p.m. in the GWC Tournament Semifinals.
Chicago State ends the 2012-13 season 4-26.
