COLORADO SPRINGS, CO. – Hitting the road for their first game of the season, the Concordia University Chicago women's basketball team (0-1, 0-0 NACC) fell just short of the Colorado College Tigers (1-0,0-0 SCAC) with a final score of 99-95.
Inside the Box
- Four Cougars dropped double-digit points on the night with one recorded double-double.
- Katherine Benes (Oconomowoc, Wis.) dropped 32 points in her first appearance as a Cougar after shooting 40% from the floor and going 9-10 from the free throw line.
- Jaylene Wade (Lansing, Ill.) followed behind Benes with 20 points and seven rebounds while shooting 50% from the floor.
- Transfer Melia Perry (Plainfield, Ill.) put up 19 points in her first game in the maroon and gold while shooting 40% from the floor.
- Alisyn MacGregor (Loves Park, Ill.) grabbed her first double-double of the season with 12 rebounds and 12 points.
After falling behind 0-9 early in the first quarter, a CUC timeout allowed for them to regroup. Fresh out of the timeout it appeared as the nerves were shaken and the team was ready to roll. Benes got the Cougars on the board with her first three of the night, three minutes into the game.
Fighting to regroup from the early deficit, the Cougars stepped up and went on an 8-2 scoring run to bring them within three. A back-and-forth battle in the middle of the first quarter kept the Cougars trailing while back-to-back threes from Perry and Benes would bring them within one. As the Tigers continued to thrive on offense, so did the Cougars. Wade, Benes, Perry, and MacGregor took charge of the Cougars and kept them fighting.
As the second quarter got underway, the Cougars continued to find themselves in the ups and downs of the game. A short dry spell resulted in the Cougars falling behind 11 points before a big time three from Wade would break things back open.
Still fighting the back-and-forth runs with the Tigers, buckets from transfers
Alexis Desjarlait (Red Lake, Minn.) and in addition to a handful of free throws let the Cougars close the half trailing 60-51.
In what seemed to be a detrimental deficit for the Cougars, they slowly began chipping away at the Tigers' lead. Despite falling behind by the largest amount of the game early in the third quarter, four three-pointers and five buckets in the paint was enough to cut the lead back down to two.
In a now or never situation, the Cougars came out in the fourth quarter ready to steal the show A layup from MacGregor followed by a jumper from Hopkins evened the score for the first time of the game. A follow up three from Wade would put the Cougars on top for the first time of the game. Now in a back-and-forth battle with the Tigers, crunch time really hit and Benes would find her way down the floor to keep the fight alive.
After a few missed opportunities for the Cougars, a clean dish from Wade directly to a waiting MacGregor inside the paint would bring them within two points with less than two minutes remaining.
After giving up a basket, the Cougars were trailing by four in desperate need of a basket and a stop. Locking down on defense, the Cougars held the Tigers where they were, but were unable to make their way back to the offensive end, closing the game 99-95. This 95 point performance from the Cougars marked their highest scoring game since the 2018 matchup against Rockford University where they dropped 99 points. Their 27 point first quarter was their highest scoring since the team's 2017 win over Rockford University where they scored 31 points in the first quarter. This also marks head coach
Lauren Martin's highest scoring season opener in her career at CUC.
Following today's contest, the Cougars turn around quickly as they take on day two at Colorado College where they'll face off against Sul Ross State University at 12:00 PM MT (1:00 PM CST). Coverage can be found at
cucougars.com.coverage while in-game updates can be found on Twitter
@cucwbball.
