Feb. 12, 2014 - Faced with an uphill struggle from the early minutes, the Concordia-Chicago women's basketball team showed resiliency in tonight's effort against the Aurora University Spartans. However, the Cougars' well finally ran dry down the stretch, and the Spartans pulled away to a 73-57 victory in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play at AU's Thornton Gymnasium.
The Cougars' offense got off to a sluggish start, and they found themselves in an early hole. Concordia missed eight of its first nine shots over the opening 6 1/2 minutes, and the Spartans built a 17-2 lead. Threes by
Kassy Koehler (Belvidere, IL/Rockford Lutheran), Miranda Rogers (Cypress, TX/Houston Christian) and
April Broska (Belleville, MI/Lutheran South) helped the attack get its footing, but the Spartans countered with six three-pointers for the half and built an 18-point lead with 7:29 remaining in the half.
Trailing by 16 with three to go, the Cougars finished the half with a little bit of momentum. Morgan Jahnke (Fox Lake, IL/Grant Community) hit a short banker, and Broska worked inside for a pair of layups. Aurora scored the final two points of the half, making the score Spartans 38, Cougars 26 at the half. Early in the second half, the Cougars fell behind by 16 before tenaciously clawing back into the chase. The three-ball did the trick as Hannah Rummel (Fenton, MI/Lake Fenton) hit from downtown. Koehler then connected on two rainbows, and the Cougars found themselves within seven. Unfortunately, the Cougars then hit a wall over the next seven minutes. The Spartans went on an 11-0 run and assumed control of the game for good by the time that Angelik Young's (Crete, IL/Crete-Monee) putback ended the dry spell. Concordia pulled within 12 points at the three-minute mark on Koehler's trey, but Aurora scored the final four points of the game to close things out.
Broska led the Cougars with 16 points and four assists. Koehler finished with four threes as part of a 14-point effort, and Jahnke recorded 10 points and eight rebounds. Shannon Koski led the Spartans with 24 points while Anna Roszkowski added 15 points and 19 rebounds.
Concordia-Chicago will play its final three games on the home floor at Geiseman Gymnasium, beginning with this Saturday's 4:15 contest against Marian University.
