The Concordia women’s basketball team suffered a tough-to-swallow defeat in the Concordia Invitational Tournament championship Jan. 26 as it fell to the 10th-ranked Concordia-Ann Arbor Cardinals, 73-69.
With a packed Walz crowd ready to erupt, CUAA star guard Abbey Hengesbach shut the door on any possible late Bulldog heroics with her bucket in the paint in the final seconds.
“Concordia Ann Arbor did a great job,” Bulldog Head Coach Drew Olson said. “No. 11 (Hengesbach) is a stud and their post player (Hannah Sabol) has similar ability. They were tough to stop. Defensively we didn’t get as many stops as we needed to. We’ve got to have more players step up and make some shots.”
The atmosphere on day two was even more intense than the first as more than 1,000 fans packed the stands to watch the Bulldogs battle. CUNE students, dressed in blue, stood in the stairways as the seats disappeared, only to see Ann-Arbor take home its second CIT tournament title all-time and second in three years.
The Cardinals (20-4) came out gunning from the beginning and quickly built a 20-8 advantage. The Bulldogs countered with a 21-8 run, to take the lead late in the first half. The Bulldogs shot 39 percent in the first half, and found themselves up 39-37 at the half. The tide seemed to turn when sophomore Bailey Morris made back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the 12-point deficit down to just six.
“We started off pretty slow, but I’m really proud of our team. We really fought,” Olson said. “And then we started to play Concordia basketball.”
Both teams struggled to gain momentum in the second half as they traded buckets with neither team leading by more than seven. CUNE (20-3) shot only 35 percent in the second half compared to Ann-Arbor’s 46 percent. On top of that, the Bulldogs were an ice-cold 0-10 from the 3-point line over the final 20 minutes.
Ann-Arbor began to pull away late in the game, until a steal and a layup by junior Kristen Conahan brought the Cardinal lead down to two points. Ann-Arbor answered on the next possession and made two free throws and a two-point bucket in the final minutes to sink the Bulldogs.
Senior Katie Rich led the way with 18 points and eight rebounds. Conahan, a member of the all-tournament team, added 17 points while Morris chipped in with 10 points. Sophomore Tracy Peitz and junior Lori Laboda snatched six rebounds apiece.
While the night didn’t end the way Bulldog fans had hoped or anticipated, Olson was appreciative of the enthusiasm that filled Walz Arena.
“It was a great time. This was awesome,” Olson said. “I’m hoping that every time we play at home, that it can be this crazy. There’s no other GPAC school has this kind of crowd, this kind of atmosphere. It’s a really credit to our students and their pride in our school.”
Sabol was named the tournament MVP after getting double-doubles in both games. She 16 points and hauled in 17 points in Saturday’s game. Hengesbach had a game high 22 points while chipping in 10 rebounds and three assists.
Concordia will take on Nebraska Wesleyan on Tuesday, Jan. 29, in Walz Arena. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m. The Bulldogs took down the Prairie Wolves by a 91-61 score in their first meeting this season in Lincoln.
CUNE 90, CUC 49
The Walz arena was the place to be as the Concordia women’s basketball team took care of business in the opening round of the CIT tournament, as they handled Concordia–Chicago en route to a 90-49 victory.
The electric atmosphere made for a one-of-a-kind experience for the hundreds of fans who packed the gymnasium. The “black-out” themed night was topped off by a couple hundred screaming students who provided an energy boost to the Bulldog basketball team.
“I think the crowd was awesome,” Olson said. “It was very loud in the gym and that just gets our girls pumped up to play. I thought our girls came out with a little extra juice than we normally do which was good, but at the same time we didn’t have the greatest start. It took us a while to kind of settle down and get into the game, but once we did, it really paid off.”
The Bulldogs struggled to find a rhythm early in the game, but it didn’t take long for them to heat up. Concordia-Nebraska shot 47 percent from the field in the first half, and made seven 3- pointers. The streaky shooting had the Bulldogs up 41-21 at the end of the first half.
“I think it really started more with the whole defense that we used to play,” Olson said. “We’re just not playing really good team defense. So we kind of got back to our basics and that started our pressure and (we) got some turnovers and then we started to hit some 3s and we started to play a little more loose.”
It was more of the same in the second half, and the Bulldogs never looked back. The hot shooting continued as Concordia-Nebraska shot 47 percent from the field once again.
Offense wasn’t the only thing going the Bulldogs’ way. Concordia-Nebraska played tremendous defense, forcing the Cougars to commit 32 turnovers.
Leading the way for the Bulldogs was sophomore Ashley Kuntz, who scored a career high 17 points.
“It was really fun,” said Kuntz who is seeing more minutes on the varsity squad, due in part to her outstanding play on the junior varsity team. “My teammates were able to get me the ball and I was just able to put them in.”
Olson also had positive things to say about Kuntz’s night.
“Tonight was a great opportunity for her and she took advantage of it,” Olson said. “She was fantastic. Every time the ball went inside to her, good things happened.”
Conahan tied Kuntz for a game high with 17 points. Conahan connected on 5 of 7 attempts from 3-point range and recorded four steals. Meanwhile Morris connected on 3-5 attempts from downtown on the way to 15 points. Freshman Jenna Lehmann added 12 points thanks to a 5-7 effort from the field.
CU 75, Doane 63
Despite being winless since Nov. 15, Doane has made a habit of forcing the GPAC’s top teams to sweat it out. Second-ranked Concordia came back from a 10-point first half deficit by outscoring the host Tigers 59-37 over the last 27 minutes on the way to a 75-63 win Jan. 23. The Bulldogs maintained their grip on first place in the conference with a 12-2 league mark while improving to 19-2 overall.
Olson gave the keys to perhaps the nation’s top backcourt and let it take control. Conahan and Morris were nearly unstoppable on Wednesday as they combined for 51 points. Conahan’s smooth, effortless jumper went ablaze midway through the second half. She scored 14 points in just over five minutes during the second half while taking shots from all over the court.
“We did a really nice job with spacing the floor in the second half,” Olson said. “We attacked and got some really good looks. When Connie gets going she’s really tough to stop. When she makes a couple she feels like everything is going to go in.”
Morris did not let Conahan do it alone. She tallied 21 points of her own to mark the third time this season both she and Conahan have reached 20 or more points in the same game. Morris got to the rim with regularity and flashed her continually improving outside jumper. She knocked down 3 of 5 attempts from 3-point range.
The Tigers (5-17, 0-14 GPAC) led 26-16 at the 7:22 mark in their bid to take down the GPAC-leading Bulldogs. Doane went wire to wire with then No. 4 Morningside on Jan. 19 and appeared poised for another close contest until Conahan broke loose with 23 second-half points.
The hot shooting performance from the Concordia backcourt was much needed after one of the team’s sloppiest-played halves to open the game. The Bulldogs committed 16 turnovers in the first 20 minutes, leading to a halftime deficit for only the third time this season.
Fortunately, Concordia shook off an ice-cold 29.6 percent effort on Sunday to shoot 48.4 percent in the second half versus Doane. The Tigers posted a shooting percentage of 42.0 percent with 26 turnovers in falling to the Bulldogs for the second time this season.
“I have a lot of respect for what Doane is doing,” Olson said. “It would be easy for them to be down, but they are playing good basketball. Us beating them by 12 at their place is a good win. Their record doesn’t signify how well they’re playing.”
Conahan’s 30 points were just one point shy of the career high she set back on Nov. 27 versus Midland. She has five games this season with at least 20 points and nine such outings in her career. The two previous games in which Conahan and Morris scored 20 or more in the same game occurred on Nov. 9 against Johnson & Wales (Colo.) and on Nov. 27.
“They’re really tough to guard,” Olson said of Conahan and Morris. “They’re both so versatile. Bailey can break anyone down off the dribble and she’s got a nice jumper. Connie’s got that great step back jumper that creates space from defenders.”
Rich notched 10 points to join Conahan and Morris in double-figures. Rich added four rebounds and three steals.
Doane’s Hannah Dostal paced her team with 20 points and nine rebounds.
