KALAMAZOO -- The Western Michigan women's basketball team (6-7) remained undefeated at home and edged Chicago State (4-9), 54-47, Friday night at University Arena.
Senior center Lindsey Brown recorded her eighth-career double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds, Carrie Moore pumped in a game-high 22 points, and Tiera DeLaHoussaye tallied nine points and seven assists to lead the Broncos.
DeLaHoussaye hit back-to-back lay ups to open the second half and gave WMU its first lead, 27-26, since the 8:24 mark of the first half. The Broncos went on a 21-2 stampede as Moore got hot, scoring 13 points in a seven-minute span. WMU had built a 16-point lead, 44-28, its biggest of the night, with 9:40 remaining. Chicago State battled back to draw within six points, 46-40, but the Brown and Gold held off the Cougar comeback, sinking free throws down the stretch to close out the win.
The Broncos started the game with an 8-0 run and held Chicago State scoreless for the first four minutes. Western Michigan led 14-11 before the Cougar's Ayesha Neasley rattled off a personal 8-0 run to give CSU a 19-14 advantage.
The Brown and Gold trailed 23-18 with just under three minutes left in the first half when freshman Sarah Dreher converted an old-fashioned three-point play to narrow the deficit 23-21. Chicago State hit three free throws and WMU sank a pair from the charity stripe to close out the first half, with CSU taking a 26-23 lead into intermission.
Neasley led Chicago State with 13 points, all of which came in the first half. Faith Buchanan and Jasmin Dixon chipped in 10 points apiece.
The Broncos return to University Arena, facing Maryland-Eastern Shore in their last non-conference game of the season on Saturday, Dec. 30 at 2 p.m.