RIVER FOREST, ILL. -- In the last game of the season, the Concordia University Chicago Cougars traveled down the road for the last edition of the Division Street Rival for the year, winning a gritty battle against the Dominican University Stars 91-81.
INSIDE THE BOX
- Alisyn MacGregor (Loves Park, Ill.) broke a thirty-year-old program record for single-game rebounds after securing 30 in the game. This also marks a career-high and a conference record. MacGregor also picked up her fifth double-double of the season after grabbing ten points.
- Mikalah Ellis (Chicago, Ill.) set a new career-high of 15 rebounds while grabbing her fifth double-double of the season adding 26 points.
- Jaylene Wade (Lansing, Ill.) was just short of securing a triple-double after picking up 21 points, ten rebounds, and nine assists.
FIRST QUARTER
The Cougars got on the board first within their first possession off an offensive rebound put back from MacGregor – picking up her first rebound and points of the day. The first jumper from Ellis would fall less than a minute later and put the Cougars up 4-2. Extending their lead, a pull-up jumper from Wade at the elbow would give the Cougars largest lead of the quarter at 6-2.
After letting the Stars gain some momentum, the Cougars slowly lost their lead and found themselves in a deficit early on. Despite another handful of points from Ellis and Wade, the Cougars closed the first quarter trailing 16-13.
SECOND QUARTER
With the Stars riding their momentum, the Cougars fell behind by as much as eight before starting to make the climb out. After going scoreless for almost five minutes, a three from Melia Perry (Plainfield, Ill.) broke the ice and jumpstarted the comeback.
As the Cougars went on an 8-0 scoring run on the back half of the quarter, a big time buzzer beater from Wade put the Cougars up by two heading into halftime.
THIRD QUARTER
Riding the high of an end of quarter buzzer beater, the Cougars jumped out to 10-0 run and built up a 12 point lead. Sophomore
Prentciss Gates (Gary, Ind.) got her hands in the mix after picking up two fastbreak layups while Ellis secured a big time block and coast-to-coast bucket.
With the clock running down in the third quarter, a transition bucket from Wade would close the third quarter with the Cougars leading by ten. The fastbreak feed from freshman
Mckayley Hopkins (St. Louis, Mo.) to a trailing Wade would give Wade her second consecutive quarter ending bucket.
FOURTH QUARTER
As the Stars became desperate to catch up, they kicked things into high gear and cut the Cougar lead down to three before a triple from Perry and a midrange fadeaway jumper from Ellis kept the Cougars up by seven with three minutes to play.
With a minute to play, the Stars found the momentum to sink back-to-back buckets and steal the lead from the Cougars before junior
Nazuri Whigham (Naperville, Ill.) cut inside the paint to even the score with less than 30 seconds to play, forcing the game to head to overtime.
OVERTIME
With the Stars scoring first in the first overtime period, a three from Ellis would tie things back up and keep the Cougars fighting.
Unable to get a stop on the defensive end, the Cougars found themselves fighting the deficit the entirety of the first overtime period while a jumper in the paint from Ellis would keep the score even and send the game to a second overtime period.
Following the first five minutes of overtime, the Cougars found themselves on the board first in OT number two. A pair of free throws from Wade gave them the two point advantage before the Stars tied things up again. Doing what she does best, MacGregor grabbed an offensive board and laid in the basket to regain the lead.
With a three pointer from the Stars putting the Cougars down by one, a solo free throw from Ellis would tie the game once again and send them to a third overtime period.
With the game getting set for the 51
st minute of play, the Cougars jumped ahead off a layup from Whigham. Two consecutive baskets from Perry and Wade would thrust the Cougars ahead and give them a two-possession cushion they hadn't had since the three minute mark in the fourth quarter.
Outscoring the Stars 14-4 in the third overtime period, a layup from senior
Chloe Schaafsma (Lockport, Ill.) secured the win for the Cougars 91-81, extending their win streak over the Stars to four straight games.
The Cougars close the season 12-13 overall and 10-8 in NACC play. They finished their season in seventh place, the highest in head coach
Lauren Martin's tenure. The Concordia University Chicago women's basketball team thanks everyone for their support throughout the season. Information and updates about the team can still be found at cucougars.com and on Twitter and Instagram
@cucwbball.
