Balanced Effort Gives Cougars Win in Final Minutes
Jan. 11, 2011 - The Concordia women's basketball team came into tonight's game at Aurora University looking to build on the momentum generated by Saturday's win at Alverno College. In the end, the Cougars prevailed in an extremely close battle, scoring seven points in the final 66 seconds to take a 67-60 victory from the Spartans.
Bobbie May's (Sandusky, MI/H.S.) defense helped the Cougars erase an early 7-2 deficit. May made three steals, two of them ending in breakaway layups. A three by Krystyna Rickett (Sandusky, MI/H.S.) capped an 8-0 run to give Concordia its first lead of the night at 10-7. Aurora regained the lead briefly at 14-12, but Marche Smith (Oak Park, IL/Trinity) sank a three for her first points of the game.
The Cougars then hit a dry spell, going almost nine minutes without a field goal. However, the defense kept the Cougars in range until Katie Leitermann (Milwaukee, WI/Martin Luther) drilled a three and Rickett hit a 12-foot jumper to put Concordia in front 23-22. The lead continued to swing back and forth until Leitermann hit a jumper from the right side at the buzzer to put the Cougars on top 28-27.
As was the case against Alverno on Saturday, the Cougars did not shoot well in the first half, but their defense enabled them to stay with their opponent. Concordia forced Aurora into 17 turnovers with May and Maja Despot (Glen Ellyn, IL/Glenbard South) each accounting for three of the Cougars' 10 steals. The Spartans' defense was focused on shutting down Smith, but Rickett picked up the offense with a 10-point half.
The two rivals continued to battle through the early stages of the second half with neither team backing down. Midway through the half, Concordia began to gain some momentum as threes by May and Smith gave the Cougars a 50-43 lead, their biggest of the night.
Aurora responded with a 10-3 run to tie the game 53-53 with 7:32 remaining. However, the threes continued for the Cougars as Smith's trey from the right corner restored the lead. May's jumper extended the lead to five moments later, but the hosts came back once again to knot the game and set the stage for an exciting finish.
Leitermann hit the big shot of the game, a three with 1:06 left to make the score 63-60. Despot then came through with a pair of big plays, first blocking Michelle Perry's shot and grabbing the rebound and then hitting a layup off an inbounds pass by Leitermann to give Concordia a two-possession lead. The Spartans then misfired on a three; Rickett rebounded, was fouled and hit two free throws to close out the game.
A tremendous balanced scoring effort saw all five Cougar starters tally in double figures, led by Despot's 15 (11 in the second half). Rickett notched her second straight double-figure game with 14 points, followed by Leitermann with 13. Smith finished with 12, and May added 10.
Concordia's defense maintained its strong play through all 40 minutes, recording season-high marks in steals (16) and blocks (9). May and Smith made four steals each while Despot rejected four Spartans' shots.
"It was great to see not only the execution down the stretch and the balanced scoring but the distribution in shots as well with every starter taking between 11 and 13 shots," said head coach Joshua Steffen. "It's never easy to win consecutive road games, and we can be proud of our effort in these last two games. We'll look to keep our momentum going as we get ready for a big home game on Saturday."
The Cougars will host Wisconsin Lutheran College on Saturday afternoon at 2:00.
