Crusaders STEAL a win from CUW women's basketball

MEQUON, Wis.-  Ice cold shooting against Maranatha's tall zone put CUW in an early hole, but late mistakes and "bunny shot" misses provided the dagger once the Falcons appeared to have finally dug themselves out of it Saturday afternoon in the Buuck Fieldhouse.

CUW (5-3/ 4-2) shot a woeful 28% from the field including 2 of 16 from long range for the game, but the Falcons still found themselves tied with possession of the ball on four separate occasions in the closing two minutes thanks to solid defense. 

Concordia missed two uncontested layups and a wide open jumper on those first three opportunities before having a soft pass back to the point picked off by Laci Peterson and taken the length of the court for a game-deciding layup with four seconds to go the last time they had the ball.

Early-on it was all Crusaders (5-1/ 3-1) as the visitors took leads of 6-0 after two minutes and then 13-2 after seven minutes of action.  Concordia's first field goal was not scored until the 11:50 mark of the opening half.  Maranatha led 28-19 a minute prior to halftime before the Falcons cut the lead to five at the break.

CUW finally tied the score (40-40) on junior Camille Parson's 3-pointer with 9:21 remaining and it was a defensive, error-filled dogfight from that point on.

Maranatha worked the ball inside effectively for 46% shooting and dominated the rebounding 39-29.   Torey DeLozier was the game's top rebounder with nine.  Parsons topped CUW with six. 

Twenty-one Crusader turnovers, 15 after halftime, allowed the Falcons back into the game.

Senior Tiffany Hendrickson (12) and junior Katie Luethe (11) led CUW scoring, but the pair managed to hit just eight of 27 shots.  Eighty percent free throw shooting (16-20) helped bring Stacey Brunner-Jones' team back.

CUW has a week to prepare for a road trip rematch with Lakeland.  Both teams are now 4-2 in conference play behind Maranatha's 3-1 record.