Jan 6. 2016 - The Concordia University Chicago Cougars came into tonight's game looking to rebound after a long week last week of multiple nail-biting close games. Tonight, they put the right foot forward, forcing 32 Rockford University Regent turnovers en route to a wire-to-wire 82-64 win. The Cougars had 12 players score in the game, four finishing in double figures on the evening.

Concordia-Chicago won the opening tip and quickly grabbed the lead when Courtney Lofink (Orange, CA/Orange Lutheran) provided a perfect pass to Morgan Jahnke (Fox Lake, IL/Grant Community) to open the scoring. Sarah Smith (St. Ignace, MI/LaSalle)continued her string of strong performances just moments later, pulling down an offensive board and converting the second-chance bucket. Hannah Rummel (Fenton, MI/Lake Fenton), Lauren Orr (O'Fallon, MO.Lutheran St. Charles)and Lofink combined to complete a 6-0 Cougar run midway through the first. with Lofink laying in a tough shot to give CUC the 16-6 lead with 3:30 remaining. Orr and Erin Jacobsen (Aurora, IL/West Aurora)sandwiched a Regent basket to grow the CUC lead out to 12, although Rockford cut into the CUC lead to end the quarter, the home team leading 22-14.

The second quarter began with another strong effort by the CUC forwards. Angelik Young (Crete, IL/Crete-Monee)blocked a Taylor Davis shot that Smith turned into a layup on the other end. Young extended the CUC lead back out to 12 just moments later. Young scored again on a layup with 7:22 remaining before half, but this would be the last basket before Rockford would make their best attempt at a comeback for the evening. Capitalizing on multiple careless passes and cold shooting by the Cougars, Rockford climbed within four with 4:20 remaining. Erin Jacobsen cut into the Rockford momentum with a three, but the Regants continued a charge that would get them within two with 2:50 remaining. CUC closed the half strong however, as. Orr fought through a tough shooting night to score eight of the Cougars' final 10 points to extend the CUC advantage to 10 by halftime.

Orr led the Cougars' scoring with 12 points in the half. Young finished the half with eight points and four boards, while Smith added five boards. Despite the margin, Rockford shot better than CUC percentage-wise, .406 to CUC's .386. The difference in the half was the Cougars' ability to force 17 Regent turnovers.

CUC looked to run away with the game in the second half. They began on an 8-0 run over the first 2 1/2 minutes of the third quarter, capped off by a Young 15-foot jumper. That was the last CUC basket for a long four-minute stretch however that allowed Rockford to get back within striking distance. Sheyla Kahalehoe (Kalihi, HI/Iolani)converted a layup to end the drought, but Rockford got as close as eight with 2:17 remaining in the third. Rockford cut the lead to single digits one final time, before Jahnke extended the CUC lead to double digits for good. Magen Lloyd (Sandy, UT/Hillcrest) and Lofink scored baskets late to end the third with CUC leading 61-49.

Head coach Rusty Rogers continued to keep up the team's intensity throughout the fourth quarter. CUC started off with a strong 6-0 run, capped off by four straight points by Taylor Jacobsen (Aurora, IL/West Aurora). The Cougars hit another tough shooting stretch, but Orr again came to the rescue, knocking down shots when needed with five straight points midway through the fourth giving CUC the 74-55 advantage. That would prove to be plenty for the Cougars down the stretch as they closed out the win.

Orr led the Cougars with 19 points, coming off of the bench for the second straight game. Young would finish just one rebound shy of her third straight double- double as she recorded 15 points and nine rebounds). Erin Jacobsen also played a solid game finishing with 11 points and seven assists. Lofink scored 11 and added six steals.

Rockford (2-10, 0-7 NACC) shot .433 for the game to CUC's .407. Concordia-Chicago forced 32 Rockford turnovers for the game. CUC scored the majority of their points in the paint with 54, shooting just 4-23 from the three-point arc.

The Cougars (5-6 3-4 NACC) will look to get back to .500 on the year when they head on the road once again to Marian University in Fond du Lac, WI. Tip is scheduled for 4:15, or 30 minutes following the men's contest. CJ Selner will broadcast the contest over the Cougars' online radio station www.mixlr.com/cucougars.