Feb. 10, 2011 - The Concordia women's basketball team looked to record an important victory this evening while slowing down the first-place Stars of Dominican University. The Cougars put forth a commendable effort, but a 10-0 run midway through the second half enabled the visitors to pull away and post a 78-67 victory. The Cougars fell to 4-11 in the Northern Athletics Conference South Division but remained in a tie for fourth place with the Milwaukee School of Engineering who lost to Benedictine tonight.
Concordia matched Dominican for much of the first half. The Stars penetrated the lane several times, but the Cougars' defense was up to the challenge as they blocked six shots - three by
Kellie Murphy (Johnsburg, IL/Marian Central Catholic). On the offensive end,
Marche Smith (Oak Park, IL/Trinity) and
Claire Mackey (Shelton, NE/Heartland Lutheran) each scored eight points, Mackey's coming on 4-5 shooting. Becky Christofferson and Ashley Oliver each turned in 10-point efforts to help Dominican to a 36-30 lead at the half.
Dominican opened up a 47-38 lead in the first six minutes of the second half, but Concordia fought its way back. Sparked by
Krystyna Rickett's (Sandusky, MI/H.S.) three, the Cougars unleashed a 9-0 run on their local rival. It was Smith, who scored 23 of her game-high 31 points in the second half, whose layup at the 12:03 mark knotted the game at 47-47.
Kayla Blom's three 90 seconds later gave the Stars the lead for good. The Stars led 59-56 with 7:23 to play when they ran off 10 straight points over a two-minute span to put a lock on the game. Blom added another three to highlight the run.
The Stars received some big shooting efforts from several key players. Christofferson scored 20 points on 6-11 from the field (3-5 threes) and 5-6 from the free throw line. Magdalena Kaminska tallied 18 on 7-11 from the field and 4-6 at the line. Oliver contributed 15 points off the bench (6-12 FG, 3-5 FT).
Smith pulled down 11 rebounds to go with her 31-point effort. Rickett scored 11 points, and Mackey finished with 10 points and seven rebounds.
The Cougars will play at Milwaukee Engineering on Saturday afternoon at 2:00.
