“It was the first time we’ve put two good halves together,” said head coach Joan Bonvicini. “We started the game really strong and I thought Crystal [Allen] played a good first half. It was nice to see Wilma [Afunugo] be able to get out and score; the other person was Jazmine [Johnson] off the bench who gave us such a spark. It was really great to get everyone in the game and contributing and Taelor [Ross] played a much better second half. It was a game where we controlled the tempo, controlled the boards, and I’m very proud of our team.”
Crystal Allen (Fort Worth, Texas) and Paris Williams traded three-pointers over the first minute and a half but the Redhawks would answer with a 12-0 run to lead, 15-3, by the 12:24 mark of the first half.
Konner Harris cut off the run with a three-pointer at 11:15 but Allen would hit back-to-back three’s before Kaylee Best (Seattle, Wash.) added one of her own as the Redhawks led by 20, 30-10, with just under six minutes left before halftime.
Best hit a jumper and Allen went 2-for-2 at the line to extend the SU lead to 22, 34-12, at 4:46 and they would lead by as many as 23, 40-17, in the first half of action after a Renee Dillard-Brown (Seattle, Wash.) jumper. Williams hit a jumper with 33 seconds remaining before half to cut the SU lead to 21, 40-19, at the half.
SU extended their lead to 26 two different times in the first two minutes of the second half, which would prove to be their largest lead of the game, both times on contributions from Wilma Afunugo (Plano, Texas).
Over the next six minutes, Chicago State would go on a 16-6 run to cut their deficit to 16, 53-37, on contributions by four different Cougars but five straight points by Masha Shtikel (Shoreline, Wash.) and a jumper from Taelor Ross (Vancouver, Wash.) would put Seattle U back up by 25 with just over six minutes remaining.
Jacinta Beckley (Wellington, New Zealand), Ashlyn Lewey (Spokane, Wash.), and Cydnee Ceballos (Phoenix, Ariz.) would drive in layups to put the Redhawks back up by 26 three different times in the final three minutes, the final time with just 14 seconds remaining. CSU’s Jasmine Sanders would score on a layup with three seconds remaining as SU cruised to a 75-51 win.
Afunugo led all players on the floor with 16 points and eight rebounds while Jazmine Johnson (Lakewood, Calif.) dished out a career high 13 assists, half of the Redhawks’ season-high 26 assists.
The Redhawks led from all three shooting percentage categories, including 48.5 percent (32-for-66) from the field, holding the Cougars to just 38.3 percent (18-for-47). Seattle U also shot 80 percent (4-for-5) from the free-throw line.