CHICAGO – Just like the Stephenville area, it was cold both outside and inside the Jones Convocation Center on Saturday in Chicago.
Tarleton fell victim to Chicago State 58-48, largely thanks to the Texans’ 14-of-54 (.259) clip from the field. The Cougars, meanwhile, made 21-of-42 (.500) of their shots, including 7-of-12 (.583) from three-point range.
This marks Tarleton’s third straight loss as they fall to 4-7 in WAC play, 12-10 overall. The Cougars improved to 3-6 in the conference, 4-14 overall.
Tarleton was missing three of their main players Saturday – Seynabou Thiam, Iyana Dorsey and Jenna Dick. In their stead, Emily Cunningham and Tyler Jackson made their first starts of the season.
Jackson just missed out on a new career-high in scoring, finishing with 12 points. This was her second 10+ point game of the season, her first since dropping 13 points against Champion Christian on Nov. 13. She added a season-high four rebounds, a career-high four assists and a career-high three steals.
Jurnee President and Malaya Kendrick joined Jackson in double figures. President had 11 points for her seventh double-digit scoring game of the season, to go with four rebounds. Kendrick tallied 10 points and six rebounds, her 13th double-digit scoring game of the year, the most such games on the team.
It was a scrappy game overall, with players deflecting several passes, diving on the floor for loose balls and playing through contact. The first quarter displayed as much, with neither team leading by more than five points in the opening frame, the Cougars holding a one-point lead, 19-18, after the first 10 minutes. To start the second quarter, Chicago State jumped to a 10-2 run to lead by eight just a few minutes in. Over the next seven minutes, the Texans allowed just a single bucket, taking a 12-2 run to lead by two at the break, 33-31.
The third quarter started brutally for the purple and white, who didn’t score until almost seven minutes in. The Cougars scored the first 10 points of the quarter to lead by eight. After Chicago State led by 11 in the frame, Tarleton got within six at the turn, trailing 47-41 entering the fourth quarter. After falling behind by 11 again in the fourth quarter, the Texans got within four with 4:34 remaining, but they would not score the rest of the game, losing by 10.
Tarleton outrebounded Chicago State 36-30, and won the turnover battle 19-14, but the shooting struggles and points in the paint (22-8 advantage Cougars) proved too much to overcome.
Chicago State’s Aaliyah Collins led all scorers with 14 points, adding three rebounds. Janiah Newell had 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting, eight rebounds, five assists and five steals. Allysah Boothe recorded 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from downtown.
The Texans get a week to regroup, next playing on Saturday at 1 p.m. CT at Abilene Christian.
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