River Forest, Ill. – Looking to build on a NACC playoff appearance in 2017-18, the Concordia University Chicago Women's Basketball team hits the floor tomorrow night for the first time under new head coach Lauren Rosengarden. This will be the first of four straight road games for CUC to open the season, with their first home game not coming till November 24 which will also be against this same Sabres team.
 
Recent History: The Cougars are 9-4 against the Sabres since 2011 and have won the last seven in a row. CUC and Marian met twice last season. Crystal Corr led CUC with 23 points and 13 rebounds in the win on December 30 in Fond du Lac. Kayla Horlacher then poured in four threes on the night in the 75-48 win in River Forest. Corr has found success against Marian in her career. In four games she has averaged 8.4 points per game to go along with 9.8 rebounds per contest.
 
About the Cougars: The Concordia University Chicago Cougars open their season on the road for the first time since the 2011-12 season when they opened the season with a 47-45 win over Webster. CUC finished the 2017-18 season fifth in the NACC with a 17-9 overall record. The Cougars return two starters from last season in Corr and Annika Rae. Corr started in all 26 games last season and led the team in rebounds while averaging 10.3 points per game. She also had seven double-doubles on the season. CUC was impressive on the road last season, racking up a 10-3 record in opposing gyms.
 
About the Sabres: The Marian University Sabres enter the 2018-19 season looking to rebound after a 3-22 (0-11 NACC) record last season. Marian enters the season under first year head coach Christine Keller who is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. The Sabres return thee key seniors from last season. Rachel Serchen averaged 11.8 points per game to go along with six rebounds a game. Sarah Schultz had 25 steals on the year for Marian and Molly Magnus finished with 22 assists.
 
Key Numbers: Getting out to fast starts was critical last season for the Cougars. CUC was 14-3 when leading at halftime last season. CUC also was 10-0 when out rebounding their opponent as well. The deep ball was critical to the team in 2017-18, as CUC was 12-4 when making more threes than their opponent.
 
As always you can find all of the live links at cucougars.com/coverage