Nov. 25, 2014 - For the second straight season, the Concordia-Chicago women's basketball team opened Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play against archrival Concordia University Wisconsin at Geiseman Gymnasium. Last year, the CUW Falcons eked out a three-point win, but tonight's result was a complete one-hundred eighty. The Cougars led for virtually the entire contest and clipped the Falcons' wings by a final score of 80-68.
Jaela DeJean (Houston, TX/Houston Christian) had a monster first half with 20 points, and she got the Cougars off to a fast start with a three-point play followed by a driving layup. The Falcons came back to take a 6-5 lead on Taylor DeLong's basket, but that would be the visitors' only lead of the entire evening. Two free throws by
Courtney Lofink (Orange, CA/Orange Lutheran) gave CUC a 7-6 edge at the 15:40 mark, and the home team would never trail again.
The Falcons came back to tie 13-13, but the Cougars answered with the first big run of the game. Hailey Lindblom Minneapolis, MN/Richfield) triggered a 9-0 run with a layup off a slick feed from Divinity Stephens (Flossmoor, IL/Homewood-Flossmoor), and Angelik Young (Crete, IL/Crete-Monee) would cap the run with consecutive jumpers in the paint. Madelyn Landgraf's basket ended the string briefly, but Kassy Koehler (Belvidere, IL/Rockford Lutheran) answered with a three to give the Cougars their first double-digit lead of the game at 25-15. Concordia-Chicago increased the lead to 15 on DeJean's three before Megan Coenen rallied the Falcons over the closing minutes of the half. Coenen scored six points in an 8-2 run to close the gap and make the halftime score Cougars 39, Falcons 30.
The visitors pulled within nine points in the early stages of the second half, but the Cougars would demonstrate their resilience several times over the final 20 minutes. A couple of timely threes by Lofink and Miranda Rogers (Cypress, TX/Houston Christian) helped the Cougars keep their lead in double figures. Lofink hit a second three at the 5:14 mark after CUW had closed to within 10 points a final time. Morgan Jahnke (Fox Lake, IL/Grant Community) then hit a jumper and two free throws to give CUC a 73-56 lead and essentially close out the game. "I was very pleased with how we responded numerous times in the second half when they would make a run," said CUC head coach Rusty Rogers. "Several times, they kept coming but we wouldn't let them get on any kind of a significant run. Our defense was solid, we hit some key free throws, and once again we protected the ball (nine turnovers) and did not beat ourselves."
DeJean led all scorers with 22 points including 9-13 shooting from the field. Jahnke played an exceptional all-around game with 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Coenen led the Falcons (2-1, 0-1 NACC) with 17 points while DeLong finished with 12 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
Concordia-Chicago (2-1, 1-0 NACC) will host Lakeland College on Saturday at 2:00 as part of the first home basketball doubleheader of the season.
