February 18, 2017 - The Concordia-Chicago women came into today's matchup with Concordia-Wisconsin looking to clinch a first-round Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference home playoff game.  Prior to the game, the Cougars honored seniors Miranda Rogers, Lauren Orr, Jasmine Cawley, and Magen Lloyd.  These group of seniors looked to add at least one more home game to their schedule. In the previous two games, the Cougars lost, so they knew what was on the line of how important it is to be playing at home in the playoffs.  It was a tight game for the full forty minutes until the Falcons were able to hold on late and fend off a game tying three from the Cougars to win 75-72. 
 
The first quarter started slow for the Cougars as they didn't get their first bucket until three minutes into the game.  CUC was playing fantastic defense early to force multiple Falcons turnovers.  The Cougars capitalized on those turnovers with an 13-0 run highlighted by a Miranda Rogers three and a Taylor Jacobsen and one to give the Cougars a nine point lead.  Concordia-Wisconsin quickly answered with an 8-0 run themselves to cut the lead back to one led by Samantha Brissett and Audrey Scharmer.  CUC withheld the late Falcons to extend their lead to 19-14 after the one quarter of play. 
 
Second quarter got off to a hot start for both teams.  CUW's Scharmer was dominating the paint early as CUC had no answer for her as she had nine points and six rebounds in eleven minutes of play to bring the game to a tie at 22.  As the quarter went on, play got hot and heated between both teams being aggressive.  Jacobsen had a beautiful up and under move to put the Cougars up four, but the foul discrepancy was noticeable as the Falcons had thirteen more free throws and six less fouls to keep the Falcons close heading into halftime with the Cougars leading 32-30.
 
The Cougars jumped out to a quick 7-0 run early in the third with an easy Jacobsen layup and a Lauren Orr corner three to push CUC's lead to seven.  Concordia-Wisconsin came right back with a 9-0 run of their own to tie the game up at 39.  Baylee Barker and leading scorer Taylor DeLong chipped into the Falcons scoring to force a Cougars timeout.  Concordia-Chicago regained the lead off a Jacobsen steal that led to an easy Courtney Lofink layup midway through the third quarter.  Both teams were going back and forth until a late Orr three gave the Cougars a 51-50 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
 
Like the second quarter, both teams were aggressive getting to the hoop leading to easy baskets.  About midway through the fourth, the Falcons went on a mini 6-0 run to have their largest lead of the game at 66-60.  Concordia-Chicago trimmed the lead to four with a pair of Rogers' free throws, but CUW's Barker's hit a clutch corner three to give the Falcons a seven point lead and kill any momentum that the Cougars had. The Cougars made a late run cutting the lead to two with a Lofink steal and layup and a huge Orr three from the top of the key with 23.9 seconds left.  Down three, the Cougars had one last chance to tie up the game to head it to overtime, but an Orr three hit the side of the rim and the Falcons held on late by the final score of 75-72.   
 
Jacobsen led the Cougars with 18 points (8-19), 2 rebounds, and 2 assists, followed by Lofink with 18 points (7-12), 4 assists, and 2 steals.  The Falcons were led by Barker who had 20 points (5-15) and Blissett who had 16 points (6-12), 8 assists, and 3 rebounds.  The Cougars led in every offensive and defensive category outside of assists.  The biggest discrepancy in the game was the fouls, which led to a plus 25 in free throws attempted for Concordia-Wisconsin.   
 
The Cougars (15-10, 14-6 NACC) return to action Tuesday night as they head to Milwaukee, Wis to play Wisconsin Lutheran in the first round of the NACC tournament.  Tip off is set for 7:00pm.