RIVER FOREST, ILL. – The Concordia University Chicago Cougars (1-14, 0-8 NACC) took the home floor to battle with the Edgewood College Eagles (9-7, 5-2 NACC), falling 70-61. The Cougars battled on the offensive end, but struggled to contain the fiery Eagle offense, resulting in a back-and-forth shooting game.
INSIDE THE BOX
- Mikalah Ellis (Chicago, Ill.) picked up a season-high 28 points while adding five rebounds, two blocks, two steals, and one assist.
- Khaliah Reid (Naperville, Ill.) followed behind with 17 points while adding in three rebounds, three steals, and two assists.
- Alisyn MacGregor (Loves Park, Ill.) led on the defensive side with nine rebounds while also rounding out the double-digit scorers with 11 points.
- Hannah Lopez (Chicago, Ill.) picked up career-highs with five points, five assists, and two steals while also tossing in four rebounds.
HOW IT HAPPENED
FIRST QUARTER
After letting the Eagles hit the first bucket of the night, a three from Ellis would put the Cougars ahead by one. Keeping her foot on the gas, Ellis would go on to score the next five points for the Cougars off a pair of free throws and another three. Getting the ball moving on the offensive end, the Cougars found yet another three this time at the hands of Lopez.
Continuing to let the shots fly, Reid would hit back-to-back triples and extend the Cougar lead out to nine to close the first quarter.
SECOND QUARTER
Ellis continued to shoot with hot hands in the second quarter, kicking things off with a jumper to extend their lead out to 11 points. After letting the Eagles tack on a three, MacGregor retaliated with a triple of her own to keep the Cougars ahead.
The Eagles would go on a 12-0 run to end the quarter and cut the Cougar lead down and steal the lead heading into halftime.
THIRD QUARTER
The Eagles would jump out to a five point lead in the second half before a layup from Reid would start things off. Reid would keep momentum on their side after a floater in the paint would leave them trailing by one, but the Eagles would answer right back with a 6-0 run.
MacGregor would break up the Edgewood run before a turnaround jumper in the paint came off the hands of Ellis. Needing to keep the offense moving, a transition three from Ellis off the no-look between the legs pass from Reid would put the Cougars right back into the mix.
The Eagles would respond with back-to-back buckets to close the third quarter on-top of the Cougars by six.
FOURTH QUARTER
In the highest scoring quarter of the game, the Eagles would start things out with a 5-0 run before a layup from MacGregor would break their streak. Unable to get a stop on defense, the Cougars continued to push offensively where jumpers from Reid and Lopez would hold their deficit within single-digits. After a burst from the Eagles left CUC trailing by 13, Ellis hit the jets and took control of the game. A jumper would start the graduate student's 11 point run before three consecutive triple would come.
Despite cutting the deficit down to as little as four points with less than three minutes to play, the Cougar defense would be unable to ward off the Eagle offense and fall by nine.
The Cougars take a short break in conference play as they travel to Concordia University Ann Arbor for the 72
nd annual Concordia Invitational Tournament (CIT). The Cougars will face the NAIA Concordia University Nebraska Bulldogs in game one that is slated for 1:00pm EST. Coverage can be found at cucougars.com/coverage.
