Jan. 24, 2014 - The annual Concordia Invitational Tournament tends to inspire a team's best efforts, and today's opener in the 63rd edition of the classic was no exception. The Concordia-Chicago women put on arguably their best 40 minutes of the season in going toe-to-toe with Concordia Ann Arbor, but the inability to hit the shots late in the game resulted in a 63-52 loss to the Cardinals.
The Cougars got off to a good start by way of a strong defensive effort They forced the Cardinals into four turnovers and 2-8 shooting over the first five minutes. Meanwhile, Kassy Koehler (Belvidere, IL/Rockford Lutheran) hit a three from the top of the key for the first points of the game. Morgan Jahnke (Fox Lake, IL/Grant Community) added a long three as the Cougars took an early 9-5 lead. Midway through the half, the Cardinals grabbed their first lead of the game. Tiffany Karger and Mariah Gordon hit threes on consecutive trips down the floor. Brooke Adams then converted a three-point play as Ann Arbor grabbed the two-point advantage. Moments later, Gordon hit another three from the left wing as the Cardinals upped their lead to 19-14.
Ann Arbor led 24-19 with three minutes to play, but Concordia-Chicago turned around the momentum by scoring the final 10 points of the half.
Jahnke got the ball rolling with a three-point play underneath the basket. The Cardinals then got into trouble with three more fouls in a short span. April Broska (Belleville, MI/Lutheran South) made them pay by hitting six straight free throws for a four-point lead. Jahnke finished the run with 5.7 seconds left as she split a pair of free throws, and the Cougars went to the locker room at halftime with a 29-24 lead. The two teams had identical shooting percentages at the half, but CUC's 10-13 at the foul line provided the big lift along with forcing 13 turnovers out of the Cardinals.
Ann Arbor opened the second half with a big run led by Adams. Karger and Adams hit threes with Adams' shot tying the game 32-32. Koehler's baseline jumper let CUC regain the lead briefly, but Adams came back with a three-point play to make the score CUAA 35, CUC 34. The Cardinals stayed hot over the next few minutes with a run of seven successive points for their biggest lead at 42-34.
However, the Cougars regrouped to run off seven of the game's next eight points with Angelik Young's (Crete, IL/Crete-Monee) layup pulling CUC within 43-41. The Cougars hung in with the Cardinals over the next few minutes and finally tied the game at 48-48 on a driving layup by Divinity Stephens (Flossmoor, IL/Homewood-Flossmoor) at the 5:40 mark. It remained for one final run to decide the game, and that unfortunately went to the Cardinals. Adams scored underneath to give CUAA the lead again. Hannah Rummel (Fenton, MI/Lake Fenton) split a pair of free throws to make it a one-point game, but CUAA's Megan Stone came up with one of the big baskets of the game. Stone hit a three from the left wing for her only field goal of the game, making it a 53-49 lead. Ann Arbor proceeded to ice the game at the foul line with Adams accounting for seven of the Cardinals' final 10 points while the Cougars were unable to hit the threes at the other end. Adams led all scorers with 30 points on 9-18 from the field (one three) and 11-16 from the line while pulling down 10 rebounds. Karger scored 13 points, doing most of her damage with four three-pointers. Broska led CUC with 15 points including 13-16 from the line and 12 rebounds.
"I was very happy with our defensive game plan," said CUC head coach Joshua Steffen. "We did a good job forcing a lot of turnovers and holding them to 34 percent shooting (19-56). Unfortunately, Adams' second half and our inability to hit the three-pointers (3-24) were ultimately the deciding factors. They played zone against us, and we had some good looks on the threes but just couldn't knock them down."
The Cougars will play the women's consolation game at noon on Saturday.
