Feb. 4, 2012 - The Concordia Cougar women's basketball team missed another opportunity this afternoon to put some distance between themselves and the teams chasing them for a tournament berth in the Northern Athletics Conference South Division. A 10-0 run by the visiting Maranatha Baptist Bible College Crusaders put the Cougars in an early hole from which they could not recover, and they would fall to their fourth straight loss by a final score of 55-40.
Autumn Peotter gave the Crusaders a quick 3-0 lead before Claire Mackey (Shelton, NE/Heartland Lutheran) got the Cougars on the board with a short jumper. However, Concordia went scoreless for the next seven minutes as Maranatha ran off 10 straight points, helped out by threes from Peotter and Kristin Morrison.
Cristina Calabrese's (Schiller Park, IL/East Leyden) basket ended the drought, and a couple of scores by Krystyna Rickett (Sandusky, MI/H.S.) later brought the Cougars back within six points. But MBBC's Heidi Fletcher scored six points in a 9-1 burst as the visitors opened up another double-digit lead. The half would end with the Crusaders leading by a 30-16 score.
Rickett's three pulled the Cougars within 11 points in the opening minutes of the second half, but the Crusaders' balanced scoring attack managed to maintain just enough distance. Particularly frustrating was a stretch midway through the second half with Maranatha holding a 43-33 lead. Concordia missed four chances to trim the deficit to single digits before Maranatha pushed the lead back to 12. The gap never shrunk below 10 until 1:03 remaining when Melissa Schwab (Elmhurst, IL/York Community) nailed a three to make the score 48-40. But two free throws by Morrison and five final points by Peotter finally saw the Cougars run out of chances and time.
The Cougars shot just 22 percent for the game on 14 of 64 and were just three for 30 from three-point range. Rickett was the lone Cougar to finish in double figures with 18 points (6-13 FG, 2-7 3FG, 4-4 FT).
Maranatha shot 33 percent on 16 of 49 (5-21 on threes) but made 18 of 24 free throws for 75 percent. The Crusaders also dominated the boards by a 54-33 margin. Peotter led the way with 15 points and eight boards, followed by Morrison with 13 points. Center Laci Peterson had eight points, 11 rebounds and seven blocks.
Concordia (7-14, 5-9 NAC) will face a crucial challenge Tuesday night when they take on Benedictine University in Lisle. The Eagles are one game behind the Cougars in fourth place in the NAC South standings.
