Women’s basketball team beats Cougars 108-67 in successful opening CIT game

Senior guard Abby Krieser (23) dodges an opponent to make her way to the basket (photo from previous game).

Photo credit: Josiah Seabaugh

By Isaac Dawson

Concordia women’s basketball took a huge win over the Concordia University Chicago Cougars in the opening match of the Concordia Invitational Tournament this Friday with a final score of 108-67.

Coach Drew Olson’s team built on a Wednesday win over College of Saint Mary and now stands at an even 10-10 overall record. It was also the second game in a row with a triple digit score.

Nebraska had a big advantage over Chicago in their shooting percentages, putting up 39-74 field goals and 19-41 three-point shots against the Cougars’ 22-49 and 7-19, respectively. Concordia Nebraska had a very balanced game. With a total of 38 rebounds, 31 assists, and 18 steals, they kept the ball well out of Chicago’s hands for a significant amount of the game.

Several people contributed greatly to the 108 points achieved by the Bulldogs. The primary scorers were freshman Makynna Robbins with 19 points and sophomore Bree Bunting with 16. Joining them amongst the double digiteers was sophomore Libby Hoffman with 12, senior Abby Krieser and grad student Kendal Brigham with 11 each.

Sophomore Sammy Leu had the most assists at five and tied Robbins for the most rebounds at six. Deserving of an honorable mention for her four steals is junior Megan Belt.

The match started off in a good place for Nebraska. After a three from Brigham the game became a three-point shootout that didn’t end as well for the Cougars. Using up their behind-the-line vouchers left the score at 14-9, a gap that the Bulldogs were able to widen progressively.

Chicago was unable to break past the Nebraska press, and their offense couldn’t hold up against the onslaught of long shots. As the half came to a close, the Bulldogs let a few too many missed shots end up in turnovers, but the Cougars were unable to capitalize on the mistakes. When Nebraska managed to hold on to the ball from behind the line their passing game broke up the Chicago defense very effectively.

In the third quarter, the Bulldogs put this passing game into high gear to score several good layups from Bunting and Robbins. It was the best quarter in terms of score for the Cougars as well. They scored 21 of their 67 points by making good drives to the basket to nearly match Nebraska.

However, the last 15 minutes of the game were not enough for them to come back by nearly 50 points. A resurgence of three-point shots from the Bulldogs accompanied by a fair number of free throws finalized the game at 108-67 in favor of Nebraska.

The Bulldogs next play the Concordia Ann Arbor Cardinals for the CIT championship at 5 p.m. in Ann Arbor on Saturday at 5 p.m.