Dec. 3, 2014 - On an evening when the offense struggled to produce at a consistently high level, the Concordia-Chicago Cougars' defense came through in tonight's women's basketball game at Geiseman Gymnasium. The Cougars' defense forced 30 turnovers from Alverno College and came away with a 69-50 victory. The win lifted CUC to a 4-1 record, 3-0 in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play, while Alverno fell to 1-5, 0-3.
The Cougars never trailed in this game but found themselves unable to shake the pesky visitors from Milwaukee for much of the first half. The game was tied at 3-3 when Angelik Young's (Crete, IL/Crete-Monee) layup gave CUC the lead for good. A three by Kassy Koehler (Belvidere, IL/Rockford Lutheran), one of only two Cougar triples in the first half, put the Cougars up 14-8 as the home team looked to open up the lead. But the visitors countered with a three by Tessa Mersberger and an inside bucket by Nyakok Duo[ narrowed the lead back to one midway through the half. Late in the half, the Cougars shot the lead up into double digits. Capitalizing on three Alverno turnovers in a two-minute span, Morgan Jahnke (Fox Lake, IL/Grant Community) struck for eight straight points on a three-point play, a steal and layup, and a long three for a 29-19 lead. Jayla DeJean (Houston, TX/Houston Christian) scored Concordia's final three points of the half, and the Cougars settled for a 32-25 lead at the half. Five minutes into the second half, the Cougars bumped the lead up to 13 as Young scored inside twice following Inferno turnovers. Mollie Mikyska scored to interrupt the string, but Miranda Rogers (Cypress, TX/Houston Christian) and Lofink buried threes on consecutive trips down the floor for a 47-30 lead. The Cougars continued to capitalize on turnovers, and the lead reached 20 at 54-34 on Shania Kiser's (Fremont, OH/Fremont Ross) layup. The lead peaked at 22 in the final minutes of the game before the Cougars closed out their fourth win in five games with the eventual 19-point margin.
"If we want to have a successful year, it's important that we establish ourselves at home, and we did a good job of that in these first few weeks," said CUC head coach Rusty Rogers. "Now we go on the road for a couple of games, and it will be important for us to make the necessary adjustments. We will need to play more consistently than we did this evening, but as long as our defense continues its high-pressure game, we will give ourselves the opportunity to succeed."
DeJean led the Cougars with 15 points, followed by Jahnke and Young with 14 each, and Lofink with 13. DeJean, Jahnke and Lofink all handed out five assists as the Cougars totaled 21 helpers on their 28 baskets. The Cougars shot .475 from the field on 28-59 but were 7-19 (.368) from three-point range and a shaky 6-13 (.462) from the free throw line.
Alverno was led by Duop's 7-9 shooting off the bench for 14 points. Mersberger was next in line with 13 points followed by Mikyska with 11. The Inferno shot .333 on 19-57 from the field including 5-19 (.263) from three-point land and hit on 7-15 from the stripe for a .467 mark. Katelyn Bartlett pulled down 11 rebounds as Alverno won the boards by a 45-33 margin.
The Cougars will travel to Madison, WI on Saturday as part of a women's/men's doubleheader at Edgewood College.
