Dec. 30, 2014 - The Concordia University Chicago women's basketball team returned to action this afternoon with a non-conference game against St. Catherine University. The Cougars saw a late lead slip away in regulation time before erupting for a 10-point run in overtime and taking away an 87-78 victory from the Butler Center in St. Paul, MN. The Cougars set the pace early and, fittingly, it was guard Morgan Jahnke (Fox Lake, IL/Grant Community) who would score a game-high 24 points that led the way. Jahnke scored six of CUC's first 10 points, all three of her baskets on layups, and the offense continued to attack the Wildcats' interior as they scored 42 of their points in the paint. St. Catherine came back to take a 15-12 lead, one of their few leads of the day and their largest. However, Concordia-Chicago retaliated by going to their three-point shooting and unleashing a 13-0 run. Miranda Rogers' (Cypress, TX/Houston Christian) trey knotted the game, and Jaela DeJean (Houston, TX/Houston Christian) followed with a layup to put CUC back in the lead. Lauren Orr (O'Fallon, MO/Lutheran St. Charles) and Rogers then connected on consecutive trips down the floor, and DeJean finished the run with a layup off a steal by Angelik Young (Crete, IL/Crete-Monee). The visitors' lead extended up to 11 points before the Wildcats took advantage of some turnovers in the final five minutes of the half to close the gap. St. Catherine came within five points in the final 30 seconds of the half on LaShay Holt's three-point play, but DeJean restored some breathing room as her long three-pointer beat the halftime buzzer and sent the Cougars to the locker room with a 44-36 lead.
First-half stats saw CUC shoot 47 percent from the field (17-36) in contrast to SCU's 43 percent (15-35). However, the difference was more pronounced in the second half and in favor of the home team. While the Cougars built their lead back up to 10 points in the early going, a 34 percent shooting half (12-35) would soon catch up to the maroon and gold. By contrast, the hosts shot 52 percent (16-31) in the half and gradually whittled CUC's lead down. Audra Clark was particularly effective for SCU as she shot 6-8 in the half. Clark's basket trimmed the Cougars' lead down to four points with 2:32 remaining, and her twisting 10-foot banker in the final seconds finally put the Wildcats even with the Cougars at 73-73 and sent the game into overtime.
Mari Lee's layup opened the scoring in the overtime, but the Cougars found some reserves of energy and stunned the Wildcats with the next 10 points. Jahnke's final field goal quickly tied the game. Then, following a steal by Rogers, Courtney Lofink (Orange, CA/Orange Lutheran) found Kassy Koehler (Belvidere, IL/Rockford Lutheran) for a jumper from the left baseline for the final lead change of the game. St. Catherine missed a couple of threes that would have given them the lead before Jahnke split a pair of free throws to put the lead at three. Then, after a missed layup, Koehler struck with the dagger at the two-minute mark when she buried a three from the left corner, Lofink again providing the assist. "It was great to see Kassy come up with the key buckets in the overtime. The silent leader was there when we needed her," said CUC head coach Rusty Rogers.
Lofink's two free throws accountred for the ninth and tenth points of the run. The Wildcats broke the streak at the 42-second mark, but four straight free throws by Jahnke (8-9 at the line) closed out the Cougars' seventh win of the season and third straight road victory.
While Jahnke's overall scoring effort and Koehler's clutch baskets contributed to the win, Coach Rogers noted some other efforts that were perhaps not as obvious in the box score. "I thought that Shania Kiser's (Fremont. OH/Fremont Ross) play on the boards was tremendous. She had 11 for the game including a couple of key defensive boards in the overtime. Also, Hailey Lindblom (Minneapolis, MN/Richfield) came in and played some great defense on Holt, one of their top players. I thought that Hailey, despite giving up some height, really limited Holt's effectiveness." Holt did not score in the overtime, and the Wildcats were just 1-6 collectively from the field over the final five minutes. The Cougars' balance, both in scoring and on the boards, was worthy of praise. Jahnke was the runaway leader in scoring with 24, followed by Young and DeJean with 11 each. Orr and Rogers chipped in with nine points each, and Lofink was right behind with eight. On the glass, Kiser led the way with 11, six on the offensive end. Jahnke collected 10 rebounds, followed by Koehler with nine and Young with eight.
Concordia-Chicago will now return to Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play where they are 5-3. The Cougars will host the Milwaukee School of Engineering on Saturday afternoon at 2:00.
