4-0 Saturday for Women's Basketball Teams

Horizon League Women's Basketball (Dec. 22)
Cleveland State 58, New Hampshire 47
Detroit 90, Madonna (Mich.) 43
Loyola 81, Chicago State 43
UIC 66, Northern Illinois 61 (OT)

Cleveland State 58, New Hampshire 47
The Cleveland State women's basketball team posted a 58-47 victory over New Hampshire Saturday afternoon, extending their win streak to six straight games and keeping their record perfect at home this season (5-0).

Shalonda Winton notched her eighth 20-point game of the season with 22 against the Wildcats, along with nine rebounds, three steals, two assists and two blocks. Imani Gordon also scored in double-digits for the Vikings, posting 12 points for the second straight game along with four rebounds and a career-high three blocks. Cori Coleman rounded out the top scorers for CSU, posting nine points including a pair of three-pointers.To open the game, CSU posted a 9-2 run over the first 5:18 which ended with a Gordon three-pointer - her first of the season. Beginning at the 2:58 mark of the first half the Vikings went on a 10-2 run that gave them their first double-digit lead of the contest at 26-16, and then closed out the frame with an 8-point lead (26-18).

At the start of the second half, New Hampshire went on an 11-5 run to bring the game within two points (31-29), but the Vikings responded with seven straight points to once again gain a 9-point advantage with 12:48 left to play.

The Wildcats were able to make it a two-point game for the second time at the 6:09 mark (42-40), but Coleman answered with a three-pointer on the next possession and then 48-seconds later she converted another shot from the behind the arc to give CSU a 48-42 lead. The Vikings closed out the contest on a 10-5 run, which included four points from Winton, earning the 58-47 victory.

As a team, CSU shot 42-percent (20-for-47) from the field, including a .500 clip (11-for-22) during the second half. The Vikings recorded 12 assists on their 20 shots, and posted five blocks for the second straight game.

Detroit 90, Madonna (Mich.) 43
The Titans  rolled to a 90-43 win over the Madonna Crusaders Saturday on Dick Vitale Court at Calihan Hall.

The win moved Detroit to 7-4 on the season as the red, white and blue won its 10th straight at Calihan Hall. With the UDM men's basketball team having won 14 in a row at home, Calihan Hall has not seen a loss since Jan. 14, 2012 when the women fell 68-59 to Green Bay.

Five Titans scored in double figures on the day led by sophomore Shareta Brown's 28 points. The nation's leading scorer at 26.0 ppg., coming into the contest was 13-of-15 from the field and added five assists and a career-high four steals.

Freshman Rosanna Reynolds set new career-highs with 17 points and 10 rebounds for her first career double-double, and also tied her career-best with six assists.

Senior Yar Shayok ended with 12 points and 10 rebounds against the Crusaders for her second straight double-double - and 25th of her career - and is now is four points away from 1,000 in her career sitting at 996, while freshman Tayelor McCalister and Destiny Lavita-Stephens each netted 10 points apiece.

Detroit (7-4) started out hot and never looked back hitting its first seven shots of the game. It was with 14:10 left in the first half when UDM finally missed a shot in taking a 16-8 lead.

The Titans entered the half up 42-20 as the UDM defense held Madonna (6-5) to just 24% shooting from the field. Detroit was shooting a blistering 55% as Reynolds had 13 points at the break. Brown had 10 heading into the locker room with sophomore Audrey Matteson adding nine.

The second half featured more of the same as Detroit upped its shooting percentage to 59% overall making 63% of its shots in the final half. Madonna could not find an answer for Brown who scored 18 of her points in the second half and the Titans dominated in the paint outscoring Madonna 30-12 in the second and 56-16 overall.

The Titans held an opponent to under 60 points for the eighth time this season, while the 43 points they allowed were the fewest since last year's Horizon League Championship quarterfinals 79-43 triumph over Cleveland State. UDM also held Madonna to 27.9% shooting, the ninth time this season it has held an opponent under 40%.

Loyola 81, Chicago State 43
Freshman Taylor Johnson and sophomore Simone Law each posted double-doubles, albeit in different ways, as Loyola breezed into the holiday break with an 81-43 win over Chicago State this afternoon at Gentile Arena.

Two Law baskets and a three-pointer from Ayrealle Beavers accounted for the points as Loyola scored the first seven of the game to take the early lead. Chicago State managed to rattle off seven of the next nine before the Ramblers took command. Consecutive transition baskets from Johnson gave Loyola its first double-digit lead of the game (21-9) and an Abby Skube bucket later capped an 18-2 run that gave LU a 30-11 lead with 5:52 left in the half. The margin got as high as 23 on a Skube free throw in the final 90 seconds of the half before the Ramblers settled for a 40-18 lead at halftime. Law and Johnson were the catalysts, scoring 13 and 10 points respectively in the period while Law added eight rebounds and Johnson eight steals.

Loyola picked up where it left off after the break, opening the second half on a 15-4 run - with seven of the points coming from Law - to put the game away, as the margin never slipped under 31 points over the final 15 minutes.

The Ramblers shot a sterling 47% from the floor for the game as nine of the 11 players who saw action scratched the scoring column. Their active defense also played a big role, as the team recorded 20 steals, its most in a game since recording 20 against Bradley on Jan. 4, 199, and held the Cougars to 28% field goal shooting.

Johnson finished with a terrific stat line of 12 points, five rebounds and 10 steals in just 20 minutes of action. Her 10 steals are one shy of Loyola's single-game record, done twice by Veronica Pettry, most recently on March 4, 1989 against Detroit.

Law notched her fourth double-double of the season, finishing with 20 points and 12 boards to go with three steals and three blocks, and Loyola also got solid contributions from Skube (nine points, seven rebounds) and others, as eight Ramblers scored at least six points.

UIC 66, Northern Illinois 61 (OT)
The UIC women’s basketball team (3-7) improved its home record to 3-2 with an overtime win against Northern Illinois (4-6) on Saturday afternoon at the UIC Pavilion by a final score of 66-61.  Junior Rachel Story led all players with 23 points, her third 20-point performance of the season, as she scored seven of the Flames’ nine overtime points.  She was joined in double figures by junior Emily Kobel with 15 points and redshirt junior Katie Hannemann with 12.  Kobel went 3-of-6 from behind the arc and Hannemann posted her eighth double-digit scoring output of the year.

After a back-and-forth exchange in the opening minutes, Northern Illinois took control with an 11-2 run, beginning at the 13:21 mark as they built a 19-10 lead.  NIU’s Amanda Corral led the Huskie offensive charge with three treys in first nine minutes of action.  Corral finished with 15 points in the first half and 19 for the game.

The Flames fought back and cut the score to within four points (24-20) with 2:35 left in the first period, but then the Huskies ripped off four straight to close out the half.  Corral converted 3-of-3 from the free throw line as she was fouled behind the arc in the final seconds of period.

Kobel had seven points at halftime to lead the Flames, which provided an 11-6 bench scoring advantage for UIC in the first stanza.

UIC regrouped in the locker room and scored the first six points of the second half with four in the low post from Hannemann.  The Flames kept the momentum and captured their first lead (31-30) since the beginning of the first half at the 13:25 mark off a Megan Wallace jumper from the right elbow.

The Huskies quickly retook the lead with bucket and two free throws, but then UIC rattled off seven straight points to go ahead 38-34 with 9:06 left to play.

UIC remained in control until 49 seconds left to play when NIU’s Jada Buggs dropped in a layup to knot the score at 57-57 and force the game into overtime.

Story scored the first four points of OT and gave the Flames a 61-57 advantage by the 2:16 mark.  NIU’s Corral was fouled on the ensuing possession and drilled both free throws, closing UIC’s edge to 61-59.  The two-point margin was the closest Northern Illinois came to UIC as the Flames sank five of their last six foul shots in the final 36 seconds.

Wallace grabbed a career-high nine rebounds and blocked three shots.  Freshman Caitlin Garant provided the Flames with a spark off the bench with six points in just 11 minutes of play.