As we had hoped, the ladies are suddenly much more competitive now that we are into conference play. Two of the last five now with the win over CCSU, with a couple of overtime losses sandwiched in between. Much better.

Aiyanna Culver is turning out to be one of the best players in the NEC. Her 33 points in the Cougars win over Central Connecticut is likely the best performance in the league this season.

The Cougars won 84-77 over the Blue Devils, as the Cougars have been remarkably competitive in the conference slate, even if they don’t have a corresponding number of wins (yet). But the team is getting more confident and improving as the season progresses. This is great news for a new coach in her first season. Really, it’s just what you expect, and also what you hope for.

Culver scored 33, shot 10-18 from the field, 2 for 3 from 3 point land, and 11-13 from the line. She also had just 1 foul in 37 minutes of play, had 2 steals, and 4 assists. A truly outstanding stat line. She will likely be player of the week.

https://www.gocsucougars.com/news/2025/1...r-win.aspx

(01-23-2025 09:01 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  As we had hoped, the ladies are suddenly much more competitive now that we are into conference play. Two of the last five now with the win over CCSU, with a couple of overtime losses sandwiched in between. Much better.

The ladies have a great chance for a win against last place LIU. The Cougars have been playing much more competitively than LIU for most of the NEC season.

Chicago has 5 NEC losses. The first was by 12. Since then, they’ve had losses of 2, 6, and 2 OT games.

But more importantly, they are playing much better than early in the season and are improving noticeably game by game.

(01-30-2025 09:58 PM)Todor Wrote:  But more importantly, they are playing much better than early in the season and are improving noticeably game by game.

Which hopefully shows that the new coach was the right pick.

The women completed their side of the M/W sweep of Long Island today. First road win in a long time. Another sign of the program making important strides this season

I haven’t posted much about the women’s side of the NEC, so here’s an update on that side of things currently.

FDU 7-0
Stonehill 5-3
Saint Francis U 5-3
Central Connecticut 5-3
Mercyhurst 4-5
Le Moyne 3-4
Chicago State 3-5
Wagner 2-6
LIU 2-7

With Chicago State at 3-5 and with 2 recent OT losses, it’s hard not to notice second place in the conference is 5-3nane see now close they are to that level right now.

Women’s BB lost their 4th OT game, and 3rd in the conference at Mercyhurst.

It’s painful, but they are a very young team that is still growing, and just not there yet.

St Francis, 7-3 in the NEC beat Chicago in PA 63-58.

Another tight game the Cougars couldn’t pull out.

Cougars played a great game versus 20-3, 10-0 NEC, Fairleigh Dickinson. Final was 74-70. They were right with them most of the game and were just down by 3 going into the final quarter. With 40:seconds left it was 72-70, before FDU hit two free throws with 7 seconds to seal it.

20-3 Fairleigh Dickinson, the top team in the NEC, is currently ranked in the Mid Major Top 25.

The Cougars lost to FDU by just 4 a few days ago.

https://northeastconference.org/news/202...-week.aspx

Culver wins her 4th NEC Rookie of the Week award.

https://www.gocsucougars.com/news/2025/2...-week.aspx

Women picked up another win at home versus Mercyhurst. It’s the most wins since 2011-12, but I’ll spare providing pundits with the actual numbers as most of here who follow the Cougars know them already.

Coach Irvin has the team playing tough. Work remains to be done, but I can clearly see the foundation she has laid with this team. I really hope she stays at Chicago State long enough to get the program heading in the right direction.

Kudos to Coach and the program for making big steps forward so far this season. And, there’s at least 2 games left.

The lower half of the NEC women’s basketball standings are a tight race and teams don’t all have the same number of games remaining. But a Cougar win Saturday, coupled with a couple other teams losing, the Cougars could advance up a few spots still.

Another win for the Cougar women to close the regular season. They took down St Francis 55-53 in overtime at home.

They have now won 2 straight, and 3 of their last 5. They are playing their best at the perfect time as the. Inference tourney is set to kick off soon.

The Cougars women are idle the final week of NEC play, while the other teams will play their final games to decide the tourney seeds.

Aiyanna Culver and Josie Hill received all conference honors.

https://www.gocsucougars.com/news/2025/3...onors.aspx

Culver was Second Team and on the All Rookie team.

Hill made the All Defensive squad.

Nice feather in the cap of the women’s squad which showed a marked improvement in a short time.

Chicago State continues their late season surge into the NEC Tournament with a win over Central. Now the Cougars have a tall task, playing on the road at 27-3 Fairleigh Dickinson.

#6 Chicago State 70, #3 CCSU 60


New Britain, CT -- Chicago State made its postseason NEC debut one to remember. Led by junior center Josie Hill’s 21-point, 12-rebound performance, the sixth-seeded Cougars took control in the third quarter and never looked back, upsetting third-seeded CCSU, 70-60, in quarterfinal action at Detrick Gymnasium. Hill’s layup capped a 10-3 run that pushed CSU’s lead to 40-29 with 4:20 left in the quarter, and the Blue Devils never got closer than six the rest of the way. The Cougars’ defense set the tone, holding CCSU to 29.9 percent shooting in the first half and 37.5 percent for the game. CSU finished with four players in double figures, including All-NEC second-team freshman Aiyanna Culver, who finished with 16 points and five assists. CCSU was led by Dagny Slomack’s 16 points, while NEC Player of the Year Belle Lanpher added 15 before fouling out late.