SIUE women roll to fourth win over Chicago State 82-66

CHICAGO, Ill. – SIUE women's basketball never trailed Saturday and rolled to an 82-66 victory over Chicago State at the Jacoby Dickens Center.

SIUE improved to 4-3 with the win. Chicago State dropped to 0-8.

After a quick 4-4 tie, Nakiah Bell hit a three-pointer with 7:38 left in the opening period as SIUE didn't look back.

The Cougars gained a 19-point lead midway through the game capped off by a three-pointer by Mikia Keith at the halftime buzzer.

"We got out and decided we were going to play more intense defense, and I thought that helped our offense," said SIUE Head Coach Paula Buscher. "We got more transition buckets."

SIUE grabbed 19 steals, the most by a Cougar team since the 2012-13 season, and recorded 37 points off turnovers.

The lead was as big as 24 points in the second half, and the Cougars posted a double-digit lead for the rest of the contest.

Allie Troeckler led the SIUE offense with 17 points. Micah Jones finished with 13 points followed by 12 from Bell and 11 from Jay'nee Alston.

"We did a good job of sharing the ball tonight," said Buscher. "It's going to help having more scorers down the stretch. We're still a better offensive team than what we showed tonight."

Kourtney Crane sparked Chicago State with a game-high 23 points, including a 12-for-12 performance from the free throw line.

SIUE held Chicago State to 32.2 percent shooting (19-59) from the field while connecting on 45.9 percent of its own shots (28-61).

"It was a great team effort," said Buscher. "We had a lot of players who got in. I loved the team's energy on and off the floor."

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