AURORA, Ill. -- Looking to win back-to-back games for the first time this season, the Concordia-Chicago women's basketball team fell into a deep deficit early in the first quarter which ultimately proved too large for a come back, as they fell 91-76 to the Aurora Spartans.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
- Sophomore
Sam Bloom scored a season and career-high 29 points in tonight's game.
-
Michaela Thornton and
Crystal Corr were behind Bloom's arsenal, scoring 12 and 11 points, respectively. Thornton also had the game-high five assists.
- The Spartans out rebounded the Cougars 44-31 and shot 56.9 percent on the night.
- After shooting 24.3 percent from the floor during the first half, the Cougars dialed in and heated up to shoot 57.89 percent during the final half of play.
The game got off to a quick start, as the Spartans drained a three-pointer just 11 seconds into the contest. Bloom responded right back after being fouled, then draining back-to-back free throws. Mckayla Tilton would also help the Cougars take an early lead after a basket from beyond the arc.
Over the first five minutes of play, the two NACC foes would exchange the lead several times before Aurora took off on a 13-point run. During the stretch, AU's defense held the Cougars to just five points over the remainder of the quarter.
Annika Rae would be the one to break up the run with a three-pointer and push CUC into the second quarter trailing by just nine.
During the second quarter, Corr had tallied four of the Cougars' eight points, as CUC headed into halftime looking at a 42-24 deficit. On 9-of-37 shooting, the Cougars shot 24.3 percent from the floor during the 20 minutes of play.
One minute into the second half, Thornton showed off her skill set with a turnaround jumper that brought things to a 44-26 game and electrified the Cougars.
From there CUC went on a 7-3 run, which was led by Bloom who scored all seven points off six layups and one from the charity stripe. After Bloom's run, the game stood at 50-33 in favor of the Spartans. The sophomore wasn't finished yet, as she was stifling on defense too, and stole the ball from a Spartan to convert the play into a good basket. With the made layup, CUC pulled within 14 of AU, 57-43, which marked the closest scoring margin since 8:36 of the second quarter, and ultimately forced an Aurora timeout.
After the timeout, the Spartans appeared to regroup as they finished off the quarter leading 62-47.
Despite improving their shooting nearly 34 percent between the two halves and pulling within 10, the Cougars would eventually fall at the hands of the Spartans.
Concordia-Chicago returns to the floor this weekend inside Geiseman Gymnasium to take on its River Forest rival, Dominican University at 2 p.m.
