Jan. 29, 2011 - Concordia Chicago's Marche Smith (Oak Park, IL/Trinity) staged one of the most electrifying performances in the 60-year history of the Concordia Invitational Tournament today in Ann Arbor. Smith broke her own school single-game record with a 45-point effort including 15 of the Cougars' 17 points in overtime in helping Concordia Chicago to a 79-68 win over Concordia University Wisconsin.

 

Smith had already recorded her season-high of 30 points in the first 40 minutes. Her free throw with 49 seconds left put the Cougars up 62-57, but the Falcons came back with free throws by Becky Gifford and Tiffany Hendrickson to close within two points. Then, after two missed free throws by the Cougars, Melanie Kulibert drove the baseline from the left side and laid the ball in with 1.2 seconds left to force the overtime.

 

Smith and the Cougars wasted no time in the extra period. Maja Despot (Glen Ellyn, IL/Glenbard South) won the opening tip, sending the ball ahead to Smith who raced ahead of the Falcons' defender and scored on a layup just seconds in. After the game, Smith admitted, "that play was a big one for us because we felt the momentum on our side right away."

 

The Falcons tied the game briefly, but Smith put the Cougars ahead to stay at the 4:01 mark when she was fouled rebounding a missed shot. The Cougars' 5'7" senior hit both free throws and then added another pair of tosses after a steal by Kellie Murphy (Johnsburg, IL/Marian Central Catholic). With Cougar head coach Joshua Steffen noting that "we called the same offensive set five or six straight times in the overtime," Smith continued to pour it on with a layup and jumper, and her three-pointer with 1:40 left was the first dagger. The three was Smith's 43rd point (her 13th consecutive in the game) and enabled her to pass her previous record of 42 set in the final game of the 2008-09 season against Mount Mary College.

 

Bobbie May (Sandusky, MI/H.S.) hit a jumper along the baseline for a 77-68 lead before Smith applied the final touch with a steal and layup. Smith's final line read 15-22 from the field (2-5 from three-point range) and 13-16 from the free throw line. Smith pulled down 10 rebounds to complete a double-double, and she topped off an amazing day with five assists and four steals.

 

"We decided that we were going to play today in such a way to get us ready for our final conference games over the next few weeks," said Steffen. "The fact that we beat one of our biggest rivals in an atmosphere like this should be a good springboard and give us a lot of confidence."

 

Concordia (8-11) will return home to host Dominican University on Wednesday night