Cougar Women Edged in Final Minute, Eliminated from Tournament Contention
Feb. 12, 2011 - Today's women's basketball game at the Kern Center in Milwaukee was at its heart a "win or go home" for both the Concordia Cougars and the Milwaukee Engineering Raiders. The two teams entered the game tied for fourth place in the Northern Athletics Conference South Division and the final conference tournament berth. The Cougars gave a heartfelt effort and turned in their best defensive effort of the year, but it was all for naught as MSOE pulled out a 36-35 win in the final minute. With the win, the Raiders took a one-game lead over the Cougars in the standings and have the tiebreaker by virtue of sweeping the season series.
The Cougars had their three-point shooting working in the first five minutes. Trailing 5-2, Marche Smith (Oak Park, IL/Trinity) hit a pair from behind the arc. Smith then set up Katie Leitermann (Milwaukee, WI/Martin Luther) for one from the top of the key to give Concordia an 11-7 lead. The Cougars maintained the lead for the rest of the half as Smith added another basket for eight points. Krystyna Rickett (Sandusky, MI/H.S.) chipped in with six points, two assists and two steals as Concordia extended its lead to 23-16 at halftime.
Concordia's defense did a superb job for the entire half, forcing the hosts into 5-28 shooting and a couple of shot clock violations. The Cougars effectively neutralized MSOE's top scoring threat Carol Cayo, holding her to just two points on a pair of free throws and one missed shot from the field. Kellie Murphy (Johnsburg, IL/Marian Central Catholic), who had primary coverage on Cayo, also made a couple of steals in the lane and deflected a few other Raiders' passes.
Milwaukee Engineering scored the first six points of the second half to tighten things up, but Rickett's two free throws stopped the Raiders' run. The Cougars then received a lift from Cristina Calabrese (Schiller Park, IL/East Leyden) who entered the lineup and hit a baseline jumper, Calabrese followed with a short banker to put the Cougars back up by seven.
The Cougar offense hit a dry spell after that with only Smith's layup to show over the next seven minutes. The Raiders finally took the lead on Jamie Janczak's three-pointer at the 5:31 mark. Smith and Heather Miller traded baskets before Smith's two free throws at 2:34 put the Cougars back in the lead 35-34.
Concordia held the lead briefly as Mackey blocked Miller's shot underneath. However, on the next possession, a missed shot was eventually recovered by Cayo who hit a short jumper for her only field goal of the game and a 36-35 MSOE with 41.7 left.
Smith was stripped of the ball on the next series, but the Cougars got the ball back after the Raiders missed the front end of two one-and-ones. A foul by MSOE (their sixth of the half) gave the Cougars the ball on the side with 5.5 left. The ball made its way to Rickett who drove the baseline and kicked the ball over to Calabrese whose 12-foot jumper from the right banked off the board and rimmed out.
Concordia was led in scoring by Smith's 14 and Rickett's eight. Miller led MSOE with 21 points and nine rebounds.
The Cougars (8-15, 4-12 NAC) will host Aurora on Wednesday night at 7:00. It will be Senior Night as Concordia honors Smith, Leitermann and Michaela Thomas (Long Beach, CA/Richard Gahr) in a post-game ceremony.
