by CHICAGO – The Saint Xavier University women’s basketball team (15-9, 13-4 CCAC) snapped the 24-game winning streak of No. 17 Indiana University South Bend and handed the Titans their first loss of the season in a 72-55 victory for SXU in a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) matchup Wednesday evening on Bob Hallberg Court at the Shannon Center in Chicago, Ill. Saint Xavier held IUSB to its lowest shooting percentage of the season at 26.2 percent (16-for-61) and they forced 16 turnovers in the win. Junior guard Aaliyahna Derrell (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sand Creek) scored a team-high 17 points, along with four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Sophomore guard Jaidn Green (Evansville, Ind./Evansville North) also had a big night, finishing with 11 points, a career-high seven assists, seven rebounds and a blocked shot. It was the first win for the Cougars over a ranked opponent since the first game of the 2021-22 season when they defeated No. 6 Morningside University (Iowa) 77-63 in the CCAC-GPAC Challenge in Bourbonnais, Ill.
- Senior guard Bethany Baldwin (Watersmeet, Mich./Finlandia/Triton/Watersmeet) tallied 16 points, pulled down six rebounds, had a game-high three steals and she blocked two shots.
- Junior forward Alyssa Crenshaw (Algonquin, Ill./Dundee Crown) collected 13 points, nine rebounds, two steals and an assist.
- Sophomore center Eleanor Harris (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North) recorded six points, four rebounds, three blocks and an assist.
- Junior forward Sofie Carr (Indianapolis, Ind./Roncalli) was tough off the bench with four points, four rebounds and a steal.
- Sophomore guard Lia Chudzik (Pewaukee, Wis./Pewaukee) chipped in three points, an assist and a rebound.
- The score was knotted at 15-15 after the first quarter as Carr knocked down a jumper just before the buzzer off a pass from Green. SXU took the lead for good on a layup by Derrell midway through the second quarter breaking a 23-23 tie. Chudzik drained a three on an assist from Green with just :36 left in the half to send Saint Xavier into the locker room with a 34-30 advantage.
- The Cougars held the Titans to just 10 points in the third quarter and they used an 11-0 run to go up 49-35 capped by a Baldwin basket with 1:49 left in the period. SXU carried a double-digit lead the remainder of the game and Green scored seven of her 11 points in the frame.
