Feb. 16, 2013 - On the road for tonight's opening round game in the Northern Athletics Conference tournament, the Concordia Cougar women's basketball team figured to need a good start to the game as one of the ingredients in taking down the third-seeded Crusaders of Maranatha Baptist Bible College. But, similar to a few other recent losses, the opposite proved true. Maranatha jumped out to an early advantage, and Concordia was unable to overtake them at any point. The Crusaders advanced to the tournament semifinals with a 67-50 win while sending the Cougars into the offseason.
As was the case at Benedictine three nights ago, the home team opened up with some early threes. Kristin Morrison and Autumn Peotter hit their first tries from long range for an early 8-2 lead. Maranatha remained hot from the outside, even getting a pair of threes by 6'1" center Laci Peterson (20 points, five assists, six blocks). The Crusaders would go on to shoot 6-15 for 40 percent for the entire first half.
Trailing 30-15, the Cougars looked to get back into the hunt. Genke scored inside, and
Kassy Koehler (Belvidere, IL/Rockford Lutheran) drilled a three from the left corner to get the Cougars within ten points. But the Crusaders opened it up again and built their lead back up to 17 points.
Krystyna Rickett (Sandusky, MI/H.S.) beat the halftime buzzer with a long three, but the Cougars still faced an uphill climb at 39-25.
Maranatha scored the first few baskets of the second half to go up by 18, but Concordia fought to stay within range.
The Cougars made a brief run as
Angelik Young (Crete, IL/Crete-Monee) hit a short jumper and two free throws.
April Broska (New Boston, MI/Lutheran South) then scored on the break to bring the Cougars within a dozen points, 49-37 with 11:16 remaining.
Seconds later, Morrison hit perhaps the key basket of the game as she sank a three from the right side. Her basket ignited a 9-0 run over the next few minutes as the hosts' lead climbed over 20 points and effectively ended the Cougars' comeback chances.
Genke finished the game with 19 points and eight rebounds, giving her final season totals of 411 points (15.8 average), 221 rebounds (8.5) and 49 blocks. Young added 10 points and seven rebounds, the latter stat putting her second on the Cougars with 128 rebounds (4.9). Rickett had seven points and four assists in her final collegiate game, and she finished her career with 1,061 points split between the Cougars and Concordia Ann Arbor.
The Cougars ended the season with a 10-16 overall record, 10-7 in the Northern Athletics Conference.
