River Forest, Ill. – It was a midweek conference battle in Geiseman Gymnasium on Tuesday night when the Concordia University Chicago women's basketball team played host to the Spartans of Aurora University. After keeping the game close for the first 20 minutes, the game slipped away from the Cougars in the second half, as they fell by a final score of 64-55.
Inside the Box Score
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Freshman Alisyn MacGregor (Loves Park, Ill.) once again dominated the boards, pulling in 12 rebounds to go along with her 12 points. It's her fourth double-double of the season.
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Junior Mikalah Ellis (Chicago, Ill.) led all Cougars with 16 points, also adding four boards.
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The only other Cougar in double-figures was junior Jaylene Wade (Lansing, Ill.), who had 12. She added a team-high two assists.
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Junior Bailey Steinkamp (Cary, Ill.) scored nine points.
MacGregor got the scoring going on the games' first possession with an offensive board and a put back layup. It was the first of six rebounds for MacGregor in the first quarter.
Aurora took their first lead at 5-4, Ellis quickly had an answer, driving to the hole to put CUC back ahead by one. With things knotted up at six, the Cougars got back-to-back three's courtesy of Wade and Steinkamp forced the Spartans to take the first timeout of the night.
The scoring slowed down for the Cougars after that burst, however, and Aurora again pulled ahead 15-14 with just over a minute to play in the quarter. This time it was CUC who was forced to take a timeout and talk things over. Ellis would go on to deliver a pair of free throws in the final seconds, and the Cougars led by one after 10 minutes.
Points were hard to come by for both sides in the second quarter. After Aurora went ahead by a point, Steinkamp gave the Cougars the lead right back before Ellis delivered a little insurance with a bucket of her own.
The teams continued to deliver blows back-and-forth as the first half came winding down. The lead changed hands three times in the final 3:07, but never grew greater than one for either side, as the Spartans took a 26-25 lead into the break. The first 20 minutes featured three ties and nine lead changes, setting the stage for a high-stakes second half.
Two of the reasons the Spartans were able to enter the half with a lead were rebounds and bench points. They out-rebounded the Cougars 27-17, including 10-4 on the offensive glass. Their bench also out-scored the Cougars 14-2 in the half.
Much like the first half, Aurora was able to score first out of the gate off an offensive rebound. They took their biggest lead of the game to that point (four) one possession later following another offensive board.
Trailing by six with under five to play in the quarter, CUC took a timeout in hopes of regrouping. On their next trip down the floor, MacGregor pulled down an offensive board and gave the Cougars a pair of much needed points. She did the same thing again two possessions later to get her team back within one possession.
The Spartans began to find their groove offensively, however, and they took a nine-point lead into the fourth. They had led by as much as 11, but Ellis was able to create a good look at the buzzer and give her team a bit of momentum.
Down by 14 with just over seven and a half to play, the Cougars began to show the same sort of resiliency they've displayed all year. A 6-0 run on buckets from Ellis, Wade, and Steinkamp cut the deficit back down to single digits.
Even with this fight, the Cougars were unable to get out of the hole, pulling as close as five but never producing enough offense to cut it any closer. The team shot just 2-14 from beyond the arc, and both of those makes came in the first quarter.
They'll look to get back on track this Saturday with a massive road test against nationally ranked Wisconsin Lutheran College. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m., with coverage available on cucougars.com/coverage.
