River Forest, Ill. -- It was a thrilling evening at Geiseman Gymnasium on Tuesday, as the Concordia University Chicago women's basketball team came from behind in the fourth quarter for their first conference victory of the year over the Eagles of Edgewood College. In a game filled with twists and turns, it was the Cougars who were able to make the plays down the stretch and escape with a 74-73 victory.
The Cougars displayed a great deal of hustle in the first quarter, grabbing six offensive boards and turning those into eight second chance points. They forced five Edgewood turnovers in the first ten minutes, leading to five points on the offensive end. As a whole, the team out-rebounded the Eagles 14-10 in the first, asserting their presence on the boards on their way to an early 16-14 lead.
They also rode hot shooting early on, going 3-4 from deep in the first quarter.
It remained a tightly contested battle in the second, but the Cougars were only 1-3 from beyond the arc and failed to score off a turnover or a second chance, all things they relied on while building their first-quarter lead.
After a Jaylene Wade (Lansing, Ill.) jumper put the Cougars ahead 25-24, the Eagles strung together a 10-0 run to take a nine-point lead with under a minute to play. A pair of layups from Wade and junior Bailey Steinkamp (Cary, Ill.) put an end to the run, and the team went to the break trailing by seven.
The Cougars were back to being more effective from the floor in the third, shooting 50 percent as a team and preventing the Eagles from building on their lead. They held Edgewood to 0-5 from deep and closed the quarter on a 10-7 run to get the deficit back under 10 points.
That energy translated to the fourth, as CUC jumped right back into the game thanks to seven quick points from Steinkamp and an additional four from freshman Prentciss Gates (Gary, Ind.).
Trailing by seven with just over three minutes to play, Wade stepped to the line and knocked down a pair of free throws. On the following CUC possession, Gates pulled in a crucial offensive rebound and found senior Ava Gardner (Park Ridge, Ill.) who knocked down a three-point shot to pull the Cougars within two. This was just the start.
Junior Mikalah Ellis (Chicago, Ill.) forced a steal on the ensuing Eagle's possession and found Wade up court for a game-tying layup in transition. The defense kept the clamps on, as senior Sarah Ludwig (Roselle, Ill.) forced a second-straight steal that led to Gardner sending the Geiseman crowd into a frenzy with another three-pointer. With just over two minutes to play, the Cougars held a lead for the first time since the five-minute mark of the second quarter.
The final minute of the game was as intense as it gets. After an Ellis layup made it a four-point Cougar lead, the Eagles were able to convert an old fashioned three-point play to pull back within one. They then took the lead on their following possession as the clock continued to tick away.
That's when Steinkamp took over, driving to the hole for a layup to put the Cougars ahead by one with just 28.1 seconds remaining. She then forced a steal on the ensuing Edgewood possession, and made two crucial free throws to put CUC ahead by three.
The Cougars conceded a layup on the defensive end with under five seconds left before Ellis alertly found a wide open Alisyn MacGregor (Loves Park, Ill.) beyond half-court. The freshman threw up a three-pointer as the final seconds ticked away and the team locked up their first conference win of the young season.
Top Cougars
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Five Cougars scored in double-figures: Steinkamp (19), Gates (14), Ellis (12), Gardner (12) and Wade (10).
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Steinkamp led the way with 19 points. She filled out the stat sheet with five rebounds, three assists and two steals.
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Ellis also had a big night, finishing with nine rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal.
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Wade added six rebounds and dished out three assists.
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Gardner shot 3-4 from beyond the arc.
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MacGregor finished with a team-high 10 rebounds, her fourth-straight double-digit effort on the boards. Five of the rebounds came on the offensive end.
The team will look to make it two in a row this Saturday when they host Alverno College. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. and a stream will be available on cucougars.com/coverage.
