River Forest, Ill. - The 2024-25 women's basketball season is officially over. Head Coach Lauren Martin finished her seventh season leading the team and ended the season with a nail-biting win.
Season Recap
The season opened with two games on the road against Illinois College and Anderson University. The team put hard fought battles into each game, but fell in both. About 10 days after their game against Anderson, the Cougars hosted their home opener against the University of Chicago. It was a high intensity, high competition game, where the two teams would go back-and-forth exchanging points and would even go into overtime. Unfortunately, the Cougar's could not maintain their strength into overtime and fell in this game with the final score of 60-52.
Just four days later, the Cougars would host yet another game at home, this time against the University of Hartford. This game would end in the first win of the season for the team with the final score of 56-51. Freshman, Sydney Nimsakont (Glendale Heights, Ill.) led the Cougars with 19 points and following closely behind her was senior Alisyn Macgregor (Loves Park, Ill.) with 18.
The Cougars would then open Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) play on December 7th, where they took on St. Norbert College and Concordia University Wisconsin before heading into the Titan Holiday Classic over winter break. Unfortunately, the Cougars were unable to obtain a win in either of these games. At the holiday tournament, the team took on the University of Northwestern from Minnesota and Augustana College, where they put up good battles, but could not come out on top. Back home in River Forest the Cougars took on Manchester University at home for one more game during winter break before heading back into conference play. It was a low scoring game for both teams, but in the end, the Cougars fell 55-38.
Heading back into conference play before the 72nd Annual Concordia Invitational Tournament (CIT), the Cougars looked at a tough schedule. They took on Illinois Institute of Technology, Benedictine University, Lakeland University, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Wisconsin Lutheran College, and Edgewood College, all of which were filled with immense effort from the Cougars and the team came as close to within 11 points, but could not finish off any of the games and would fall in each contest.
Travelling to CIT, the last as originally thought, the Cougars took on a very strong Concordia University Nebraska team. After falling to Concordia Nebraska, the second day of action was against Concordia Wisconsin, but as a non conference battle. Concordia Wisconsin came out on top in this game, but was a game filled with several highlights, including almost nearly every Cougar scoring in the game.
Back in River Forest, the Cougars took on conference games against Dominican University, Marian University, and Alverno College, which would end up being a three game winning streak for the team. Against Dominican, the Cougars were led by Khaliah Reid (Naperville, Ill.) who had 20 points and Mikalah Ellis (Chicago, Ill.) who had 12. Against Marian, the Cougars yet again were led by Reid with 20 points, Nimsakont with 11, and Ellis with nine. Lastly, in their game over Alverno, the team shared the wealth, and all players scored to aid in the victory.
With just five games left, the Cougars would take on Rockford University, Aurora University, St. Norbert College, Illinois Tech, and Rockford again for their final game. The Cougars would fall to Rockford the first time, as well as Aurora, St. Norbert, and Illinois Tech, but in their final game of the season, the Cougars would end on a high note taking Rockford University with the final score of 48-47. The wealth was shared amongst all Cougars where either they contributed offensively with points or defensively with much needed rebounds.
The Cougars finished the season 5-20 overall, and 4-12 in conference.
Post-Season Honors
Khaliah Reid (Naperville, Ill.) was the lone Cougar to earn postseason honors as she earned a spot on the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) All-Conference second team. Reid led the way in scoring with 16.2 points per game, as well as steals per game with 1.6.
In conference, Reid finished second in points per game, 14th in three-point field goal percentage, 17th in steals per game, and 19th in assists per game.
Record Breaking Recall
Not only did the Cougars obtain a huge win over Alverno, on that same night, Alisyn MacGregor also broke an 18 year old rebounding record. The senior led the team in rebounds, where she averaged 8.3 per game this season and now holds the record at 901.
Impactful Returners
The Cougars will graduate MacGregor and Ellis, both who strongly contributed to the otherwise young team, but will return a handful of impactful returners.
The eldest on the squad will be Abby Kulig (Carol Stream, Ill.) and Linley Southern (Decatur, Ill.). Kulig led the team in total blocks with 15, had 16 steals, 22 assists, and had a total of 58 points and 55 rebounds. Southern totaled 58 rebounds, 21 points, and 18 steals, as well as was a energy burst for the team whenever she was on the floor.
A few first years will also be returning, Hannah Lopez (Chicago, Ill.), Courtneye Schneider (Plainfield, Ill.), and Kira Holliday (Roselle, Ill.) who played crucial minutes and will see their roles grow in their seasons to come.
Statistical Leaders
Season Highlights
Link: https://youtu.be/EwI14wabGqU
Even with the season officially over, the team will take their off season to prepare for another season that will be back before we know it. Updates and coverage for all things CUC women's basketball can be found at cucougars.com.
