Jan. 22, 2011 - This afternoon's Concordia women's basketball game unfortunately followed the same pattern as Wednesday's loss to MSOE. The Cougars fell behind via poor shooting in the first half and rallied in the second half though never taking the lead. As a result, Marian University handed Concordia a 72-58 defeat in a Northern Athletics Conference game at MU's Sadoff Gymnasium.
The Sabres came out smoking with three-point baskets from three different players to take a 9-2 lead. The Cougars answered with long shots from Krystyna Rickett (Sandusky, MI/H.S.) and Marche Smith (Oak Park, IL/Trinity), but Marian soon shifted their attack inside. Elizabeth Zutz and Alexis Becker sliced through Concordia's defense for layups, and the hosts soon had their lead up to 29-16.
Before the half ended, the Cougars closed the gap to four with the helps of threes from Rickett and Smith. However, the Sabres got a bucket to beat the halftime horn and went into the locker room with a 33-27 lead.
Concordia shot 5-10 from beyond the three-point line but just 3-19 inside the arc. Marian had five three-point baskets but shot slightly better overall from the floor - 40 percent on 12-30. The Sabres also claimed the advantage on the boards by a 24-19 margin.
The Cougars fell behind by 10 points in the first five minutes of the second half before mounting a charge. Smith scored eight points, and Rickett and April Broska (New Boston, MI/Lutheran South) each added a bucket to pull Concordia within two at 46-44.
Marian scored the next seven points, but two free throws and a three by Broska helped the Cougars back to within five. A steal and layup by Smith made it 55-52 with 4:45 left.
Trailing 59-52, Rickett drilled a three after the Cougars rebounded a missed free throw. However, that would be the last gasp for Concordia as Marian scored 11 of their final 13 points at the foul line. The Cougars missed their final eight shots from the field along with three free throws as they fell to 7-9 overall, 4-7 in Northern Athletics Conference play.
Smith and Rickett led the Cougars in scoring with 25 and 15 points respectively, but the shooting troubles continued with just 10-31 (,321) in the second half and 18-60 (30 percent) for the game. Concordia also missed six free throws in the second half (8-14) and finished the game 14-23 for 61 percent.
Marian's starting five accounted for all but the final two points. Elizabeth Zutz scored 27 points and pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds. Alexis Becker tallied 20 points, and Dani Huray addedd 15 points. The Sabres shot 20-55 (36 percent) for the game, 25-36 (69 percent) from the foul line and outrebounded the Cougars 49-39.
The Cougars will travel to Rockford College on Tuesday night before traveling to Ann Arbor for next weekend's CIT tournament.
