River Forest, Ill. - After putting up 190 points total in the final two games before the end of 2017 the Concordia University Chicago Cougars took to the floor for a Rivalry Cup matchup with the Dominican University Stars. CUC came out clicking on all cylinders but had to hang on late using key free throw shooting for the 80-69 win over Dominican. CUC has now won six straight over Dominican with the win.  

The Cougars (8-2, 5-2 NACC) had four players finish in double figures on the night. Crystal Corr finished with a game high 20 points while recording her third straight double-double. Courtney Lofink was all over the floor as well recording her second career triple double (11 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists). As a team CUC shot 39 percent for the night after shooting 51 percent in the first half. CUC limited the Stars (5-6, 1-5 NACC) to 34 percent shooting on the night who were led by Timiya Ray with 19 points.

"It's never easy to win on the road in a rivalry game," remarked head coach Rusty Rogers. " I thought Crystal was fantastic especially with things that don't show up on the stat sheet. Courtney was there when we needed her tonight. It's not easy to survive shooting under 30 percent in the second half but our team showed their toughness knocking down the free throws late."

In the first quarter CUC got off to an early lead behind a 10-0 run powered by six points from Corr. The Cougars continued to shoot the ball well knocking down their first seven shots of the contest. The Cougars opened the lead to as many as 13 in the first quarter. Annika Rae led with seven points while Corr had six. Lofink had four assists as well allowing CUC to lead 25-16 at the end of the first quarter.

CUC opened up the second quarter using a Taylor Jacobsen steal and layup to push the lead to 15. The Cougars cooled off offensively allowing Dominican to climb back in it cutting the CUC lead to single digits midway through the quarter. Sophia Leon and T.Jacobsen kept the Stars chasing. Dominican then used an 11-0 run to pull within one with just a few seconds remaining in the half. T. Jacobsen was able to push the Cougar lead back to 43-39 with a three off the left wing just before the buzzer.

Corr led CUC with 10 points in the first half on 4-7 shooting. Lofink had a strong first half performance as well with six points, seven assists, and six rebounds. CUC shot 51 percent for the half but got out rebounded by Dominican by 10 which allowed Dominican to take 12 more shots in the half.

The Cougars struggled offensively in the third quarter scoring just 11 points. The Cougar defense stepped up to the challenge though preserving the CUC lead despite Alexis Hoskins heating up in the quarter. The Cougars led 54-52 heading to the fourth.

The intensity of the rivalry continued into the fourth quarter. CUC opened the quarter quickly with threes by Kayla Horlacher and T.Jacobsen. Dominican cut the Cougar lead back to three with 3:35 on an Amari Stafford layup. Corr and T.Jacobsen converted layups to extend the lead to seven but again the Stars used the three ball to pull back within four with a minute remaining. The shining star of the night for CUC was the free throw shooting late, knocking down 8-9 from the charity stripe late to seal the 80-69 Rivalry Cup win.

The Cougars will ready themselves for a quick turnaround to host Blackburn College tomorrow night at 6:00pm. CUC defeated the Beavers 94-58 in the season opener.