Feb. 18, 2014 - A long season came to a close this evening for the Cougar women's basketball team as they lost 72-61 to Dominican University at Geiseman Gymnasium.
As in a couple of other recent losses, the Cougars fell victim to a sharp three-point shooting team. The Stars shot 6-12 from long range in the first half with guard Allie Tapanes hitting on four of five from outside the arc. Meanwhile, the Cougars missed on all 15 of their attempted threes in the half and trailed the visitors 36-22 at the half.
Dominican scored the first two points of the second half, but Concordia then put together its first good stretch of the night. Following a free throw by Jessica Gray (Crown Point, IN/Andrean), April Broska (Belleville, MI/Lutheran South) connected on CUC's first three of the night. Angelik Young (Crete, IL/Crete-Monee) and Broska followed with layups over the next few minutes as the Cougars trimmed the deficit to 38-30.
The Stars answered with an 8-3 run to go back up by 13, but the Cougars regrouped and made another charge. Young scored inside, and Morgan Jahnke (Fox Lake, IL/Grant Community) scored on a steal and breakaway layup. Broska then attacked the inside, was fouled and cashed in two free throws. Another turnover gave the ball back to CUC, and Jahnke found Gray for a baseline jumper. With 10 minutes to play, the Cougars were as close as they had been since the opening minutes of the game at 46-41. However, that would end the comeback as the Stars scored the next eight points. Four of them came from DU's 6'1" center Alyssa Hernandez who troubled the Cougars inside all night long. Concordia did not get within single digits for the remainder of the game as Dominican was true on its free throws down the stretch.
Hernandez led all scorers with 26 points, shooting 12-17 from the field. She also pulled down 11 rebounds to help the Stars win on the boards by a 44-36 margin. Tapanes added 24 points, converting 10 of 11 shots from the foul line.
In her final collegiate game, Broska led the Cougars with 25 points on 9-15 shooting (one three) and 6-6 from the line. Young added a sesaon-high 21 points and pulled down 11 rebounds.
The Cougars finished the season with a 2-23 record, 2-18 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference.
