Dec. 19, 2011 - The Concordia-Chicago women's basketball team looked to follow up on a big Dec. 10 road win at Lakeland College with tonight's game in Mequon against Concordia University Wisconsin. However, a bad start provided an insurmountable obstacle as the Cougars fell behind early and never caught the Falcons. Led by Katie Luethe's 22 points and 10 rebounds, the Falcons pulled away to a 77-58 win over the Cougars.
The Falcons shot 8-16 from three-point range and, from the opening tip, many of the threes came at opportune moments. Tiffany Hendrickson began the game with a trey. Krystyna Rickett (Sandusky, MI/H.S.) got the Cougars on the board with a jumper, but the Falcons scored the next six points for a 9-2 lead after just 3:30 had elapsed. Luethe's first of four threes on the night gave CUW its first double-digit lead at 14-4, but the Cougars answered back. Kassy Koehler (Belvidere, IL/Rockford Lutheran) hit CUC's first three as part of a 7-0 run, bringing the Cougars within 14-11. The Falcons continued to hold onto their lead though, helped out by 8-9 shooting at the free throw line, and their advantage stood at eight points at the half, 34-26.
The margin was still at eight early in the second half when Luethe knocked down a pair of threes as part of an 11-3 run that gave CUW its largest lead at 16. The Cougars charged back on Bobbie May's (Sandusky, MI/H.S.) layup and seven straight points by Rickett that chopped the deficit to 47-40. But Luethe answered with a two and three to stifle CUC's momentum and put the lead back in double digits.
Concordia-Chicago's final chance came with 2:10 remaining when May scored to reduce the gap to nine. But the Falcons had one final three remaining in them, this one by Hendrickson. Clutch free-throw shooting closed out the game for the Falcons who improved to 6-1 in Northern Athletics Conference play, 6-3 overall.
The Cougars (3-6, 2-4 NAC) got 23 points from May on 5-11 shooting and 13-16 from the line; the senior point guard also added five assists. Rickett scored 21 points on the strength of 9-18 shooting from the field.
The RDV Sportsplex in Orlando, Florida will be the site for the Cougars' next two games. They will face Hope College and Olivet (MI) College in holiday tournament play.
