OLIVET, MICH. — Seeking back-to-back wins to start the season, Concordia University Chicago women's basketball (2-0, 0-0) traveled to the University of Olivet (1-1, 0-0) Tuesday night. CUC walked away with the 64-50 win to improve to 2-0 on the young season, their best start to a season since the 2016-2017 season.
-Inside the Box Score
-
Khaliah Reid (Naperville, Ill.) continued her strong start to her freshman campaign, scoring a game-leading 15 points. She was also tied with her teammate Cydnei Mitchell (Aurora, Ill.) for the most assists in the game with four.
-
Alisyn MacGregor (Love Park, Ill.) snagged 10 rebounds, tied for the most in the game. She was one point off of a double-double.
-
The Cougars as a whole nearly shot 40% from beyond the arc, making nine threes on 23 attempts.
-How It Happened
First Quarter
It took over 1:30 for the first points to appear, coming in the form of a Melia Perry (Plainfield, Ill.) three-pointer. Following a Reid free throw, Olivet got on the board with an and-one play to make it 4-3 with 7:37 to go in the first frame.
A Nazuri Whigham (Naperville, Ill.) layup expanded CUC's lead to three, and a three-ball courtesy of Reid broke the game open, 9-3. Olivet cut their deficit back down to four thanks to a Lily Connelly jumper. Both defenses stood tall for nearly two minutes, not allowing a score. Perry ended the drought with her second three of the night, making the score 12-5 with 4:26 left in the first.
Five straight points from Olivet chipped away at the Cougars's lead until layups from MacGregor and Reid knocked the lead back up to seven, 16-9, which is what the scoreboard read at the end of the first.
Second Quarter
It took just six seconds for Whigham to open the scoring in the second quarter with her driving layup. Up by nine, Concordia saw their lead slip away over the next three minutes because of a 7-1 Olivet run.
With Olivet on her team's heels, Reid struck once again from beyond the arc to set the score at 22-16. CUC's offense then took over, scoring the next nine points, highlighted by a three-pointer from freshman Lela Scott (Indianapolis, Ind.).
Olivet used the charity stripe to gain a few points back, but Mirakle Anderson (El Paso, Texas) quickly negated those points with a three pointer of her own. Following a few last free throws from both sides and a last second Reid layup, halftime hit with Concordia on top 38-19.
Third Quarter
Both teams combined for six points a minute into the third, but the score was then frozen at 42-21 until the 7:09 mark when Olivet pulled with 19. Reid then added more points to her resume for the night with a jumper, and jacked the Cougar lead back up to 21, 44-23.
The differential stayed at roughly 20 for a majority of the third, with teams trading small blows back and forth. MacGregor hit a three with nine seconds left in the quarter to put the lead at 23 going into the final 10 minutes of regulation.
Fourth Quarter
Scoring was scarce in the fourth quarter. Olivet nabbed a few points with a Connelly jump shot at the 9:40 mark, but that was the only scoring until the 7:03 point, when another Olivet make brought the team within 19 points of CUC, but a MacGregor free throw put the lead back at 20 for Concordia.
Olivet did their best to chip away at the Cougar lead over the next couple minutes, going on a 9-2 run. A Mitchell layup ended the Olivet streak and provided Concordia with all the points they needed to secure the 64-50 win.
-Up Next
The squad heads to sunny California for their next contest, facing Pomona-Pitzer on Friday, Nov. 17. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. PST, and coverage can be found at
cucougars.com.
