River Forest, Ill. -- Concordia University Chicago women's basketball team (1-1, 0-0 NACC) took down Blackburn College (0-2, 0-0 SLIAC) 77-57 in their second contest of the season on Saturday night.

Inside The Box

• Senior Ava Gardner (Park Ridge, Ill.) put up 25 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 steals.

• Junior Jaylene Wade (Lansing, Ill.) put up 16 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists.

• Freshman Alisyn MacGregor (Loves Park, Ill.) put up 11 points, 15 rebounds, and 2 steals.

• Cougars' bench added 18 points, with the bulk coming from freshman Prentciss Gates (Gary, Ind.) who had nine of her own while Lauren Saleh (River Forest, Ill.), Bailey Steinkamp (Cary, Ill.), and Chloe Schaafsma (Lockport, Ill.) each added three a piece. 

The Beavers struck first and took their only lead of the game, though it didn't last long. A minute and a half later the Cougars took a 5-3 lead after buckets from Wade and Gardner, and never looked back. With help from quick ball movement and strength in the post, they were able to find 28 points in the paint and 59 total rebounds - 21 of which were offensive. As the Cougars out shot the Beavers for the entirety of the game, the momentum stayed at home giving them the 77-57 win.

With 77 points on the evening, it marks the highest scoring game the Cougars have had since February of 2020, and gave them their first win of the season.

This team takes their home court yet again on Saturday where they'll take on North Central College at 2 pm. Coverage can be found at cucougars.com/coverage.