Dec. 30, 2010 - The Concordias of Chicago and Wisconsin met in women's basketball action at Geiseman Gym this evening. The visiting CUW Falcons' defense set the tone early as they built and maintained a lead in the first half and later held off a couple of Cougar comeback attempts to win by a final score of 62-53.
With the score 10-8 Falcons after five minutes, the visitors outscored the Cougars 9-2 over the next seven minutes to take a nine-point lead. The Cougars, who were just 4-15 shooting to that point, saw Marche Smith (Oak Park, IL/Trinity) go to the bench with a couple of fouls. However, Krystyna Rickett (Sandusky, MI/H.S.) and Kellie Murphy (Johnsburg, IL/Marian Central Catholic) looked to rally the Cougars with Murphy's jumper getting the home team back within 21-19.
One of the game's key stretches came after Murphy's basket as the Falcons scored the final nine points of the half. It was CUW's bench that did most of the damage as Emily Wesley and Anna Butler scored eight of the nine to make the halftime score CUW 30, CUC 19.
Tiffany Hendrickson's three, one of four for her on the night, gave the Falcons their largest lead at 37-21 just two minutes into the second half. The Cougars fought back to within nine, but the Falcons had the answer once again as they expanded the lead to 18 at the nine-minute mark.
The lead stood at 53-38 when the Cougars made one more charge. Maja Despot (Glen Ellyn, IL/Glenbard South), Murphy and Smith each scored, and Rickett followed with the Cougars' lone three-pointer of the night to make it a six-point game at 53-47. However. CUW's Becky Gifford stemmed the tide with a three, and the Cougars missed seven straight shots after Rickett's three. The Falcons made good on their free throws down the stretch to close out another contest in the long-standing rivalry between the two sister schools.
Hendrickson led all scorers with 18 points, followed by Gifford and Katie Luethe with 11 each. The Falcons shot just 41 percent from the field (21-51) but were 5-10 from beyond the arc and 15-21 (71 percent) from the free throw line.
Smith led the Cougars with 15 points, six rebounds and three assists. Murphy finished with 11 points and four steals, and Rickett pumped in nine points and grabbed five rebounds. The Cougars shot 39 percent from the field on 22-57 but were just 1-9 from three-point range and 8-12 from the line. The Falcons had one more rebound than the Cougars (37-36) as well as one more turnover (20-19).
Concordia-Chicago (4-6, 1-4 Northern Athletics Conference) will play their next three games on the road, beginning with Tuesday night's game at Benedictine University in Lisle.
