CHICAGO, ILL. -  In their first game of 2025, the Concordia University Chicago women's basketball team headed to the Southside for a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) matchup with the Illinois Institute of Technology. 
 
INSIDE THE BOX

• Sydney Nimsakont (Glendale Heights, Ill.) led the charge with a career-high 23 points while chipping in one rebound and one assist. 
• Aniyah Hinton-Henry (Gary, Ind.) followed with behind with 15 points and four rebounds while adding in career high two assists and one steal. 
• Khaliah Reid (Naperville, Ill.) rounded out the double-digit scoring with ten points while adding in five rebounds.
• Alisyn MacGregor (Loves Park, Ill.) led the defensive end with 12 rebounds while contributing seven points. 
• Abby Kulig (Carol Stream, Ill.) picked up a career-high four steals while leading the team and tossing in six rebounds.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED
FIRST QUARTER 
The Cougars struck first with a quick layup from Hinton-Henry to set the tone. The Scarlet Hawks answered back quickly with a three to go up by one, but an offensive rebound and putback from MacGregor would send the Cougars ahead once again. Exchanging buckets once again, the Cougars and Scarlet Hawks would level things up at eight apiece with less than six minutes to play. Free throws from Nimsakont and Hinton-Henry would keep them in the game, but the go ahead points would come at the hands of Nimsakont with the first three of the day. Once again going back-and-forth, buckets from Hinton-Henry and Reid would put them up by four points to close the quarter. 

SECOND QUARTER
Fresh into the second quarter, the Cougars would have possession and extend their lead to six off a layup from Hinton-Henry while a followup triple from Nimsakont would put them up by nince. Back-to-back buckets for the Scarlet Hawks would cut into the Cougar lead, but an offensive rebound and putback from MacGregor once again would bump them back up to a seven point lead. After a quick 7-0 run sparked for Illinois Tech, they would tie things back up and eventually steal the lead off a free throw and layup, but a layup from Hinton-Henry off the feed from Mikalah Ellis (Chicago, Ill.) would bring them back within one.

Once again going back-and-forth, the Cougars and Scarlet Hawks exchanged points while falling behind by as much as four in the final two minutes of the half, but a layup and jumper from MacGregor and Linley Southern (Decatur, Ill.) close the first 20 minutes with the score leveled out at 34 apiece.

THIRD QUARTER
A 13-0 run in favor of the Scarlet Hawks to start the second half would put the Cougars in their largest deficit of the day before a jumper from Nimsakont would break their five minute scoring drought. As the Scarlet Hawks continued to rally, Nimsakont would carry the team with six of their nine points while Reid and Courtneye Schneider (Plainfield, Ill.) added in the rest.

FOURTH QUARTER
Kicking off the final ten minutes of play, the Cougars would strike first with a layup from Nimsakont to cut their deficit down to ten points while a second layup would bring them within eight. Lockdown Cougar defense stopped the Scarlet Hawks from going on another large run, but unable to overcome the deficit, the Cougars would fall 72-60.

The Cougars will be back in action on Wednesday, as they continue NACC play, where they travel to Plymouth, Wis. to battle with Lakeland University. Coverage can be found at cucougars.com/coverage.