Lady Eagles outshoot NCAA D1 Chicago State for 86-66 victory!
Chicago, IL - Shooting a blistering 69.4 percent from the floor and dominating the defensive boards, the Robert Morris Women's Basketball team shocked the NCAA Division I Cougars of Chicago State University with a decisive 86-66 victory on January 12, 2008, at the Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center on the CSU campus in Chicago, IL.
"This was a real team win," said RMC Head Coach Renee Bostic, said of the Lady Eagles' sixth victory in a row.
After the two teams traded the lead back and forth in the early going, CSU went ahead 13-11 on a three-pointer. RMC's Chanel Jones-Delas (Junior, Toronto, Ontario, pcitured at left) answered from beyond the arc, igniting an 8-0 run to give the Lady Eagles a six-point edge midway through the first half.
With a little less than seven minutes left in the opening period, the Lady Cougars came back to knot the score at 23-all for the second and final tie of the game. From there, RMC went on a 19-6 run to close out the half. Freshman sensation Jerita Gordon (Chicago, IL) scored six points during that sequence as the Lady Eagles' trademark pressure defense forced CSU into six turnovers. When the teams went to the locker room for their half-time break, RMC led 42-29.
After CSU hit a three to open the second half, the Lady Eagles took control. Junior center Janae Mason (Fishkill, NY) scored six straight points; one bucket was a beautiful put-back on the weak side with the other two coming off nifty assists from Jones-Delas and Ashley Banks (Senior, Chicago, IL). With about nine minutes gone in the final period, a blocked shot by Gordon kicked off a fast break that ended with a Jones-Delas lay-in off an assist from sophomore Jessica Harris (Chicago, IL). That put the Lady Eagles up by fifteen at 60-45.
Playing on their home floor, the Lady Cougars weren't about to go quietly. They put together a run of their own that got them within six points with 5:23 remaining in the game. A time-out by Coach Bostic gave RMC a chance to refocus, and they closed out the game by outscoring the hosts 22-8 over the last five minutes for the 86-66 final. The biggest sequence of that run included cold-blooded three-pointers by Janesha Washington (Senior, Chicago, IL, pictured at right) and Harris sandwiched around a pretty penetration bucket by point guard Ashley Banks. Banks posted a double-double for the game, netting 10 points of her own while dishing out ten assists.
The Lady Eagles' coolly efficient performance was highlighted by their best shooting of the season. They put down 32 of the 49 shots they took in the game, including six-of-nine from beyond the three point arc. They also dominated the boards as they out out-rebounded CSU 30-24, including 26 defensive rebounds for RMC. The Lady Eagles had only four offensive boards in the game, but, as Coach Bostic pointed out, "It's hard to get offensive rebounds when you're making everything you put up."
Five players posted point totals in double figures, led by Jerita Gordon (pictured at left) with 21 points. Gordon hit 8-of-9 from the field and was 5-of-6 at the free throw line. She grabbed five rebounds, a total matched by three other Lady Eagles.
Senior Janesha Washington had 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting as she was the finisher on a number of fast breaks. She also had five rebounds and five assists.
Chanel Jones-Delas hit for 15 while taking down five rebounds. She also shined on defense as she took on the much larger CSU forwards in the paint. Jessica Harris--once again the model of consistency--scored 13 with five rebounds and three assists. Ashley Banks had three steals to augment her double-double.
The Lady Eagles forced CSU into 18 turnovers and had ten steals while holding the Lady Cougars to just 38.6 percent from floor.
This was the first win over an NCAA D1 school in the program's history and the first in four tries against D1 competition this season.
It also is a measure of the strides the team has taken under Head Coach Renee Bostic. The season before Coach Bostic took over the program, the Robert Morris Women's Basketball team won but two games in the entire season. The last two years they have reached the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship Tournament semi-finals. They also appeared among the teams receiving votes in the NAIA national ranking this past week.
"We put together a tough schedule," Coach Bostic said. "You have to play good people if you want to be good." RMC's schedule this season included four NCAA D1 and three D2 opponents. Five of the Lady Eagles's seven losses this season came from those ranks with another defeat accounted for by defending NAIA D2 national champion Indiana Wesleyan.
The win improves RMC's overall record to 11-7.
The Lady Eagles will open their Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference season on Tuesday, January 15, 2008, when they host the Illinois Institute of Technology at the Joseph J. Gentile Center. Tip-off is at 7:00 Pm with Tom Wuestendfeld's webcast set to begin about ten minutes before game time. Check robertmorris.edu/athletics for the webcast link.