CUW holds off Edgewood in first place thriller!

MEQUON, Wis.-  Concordia Wisconsin simply would not be denied as the Falcons combined intense defense with free throw successes down the stretch to squeak past visiting Edgewood Wednesday evening in a Buuck Fieldhouse thriller.

Stacey Brunner-Jones' team trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half (28-18) and was fortunate to pull within 30-26 at the break.

Concordia finally tied the score at 40-40 with 13:44 remaining on a Zietlow layup and it was literally tooth and nail from that point on with neither team leading by more than three points until the final seconds. 

Edgewood took their final lead (57-56) on Melanie Walker's layup with 1:19 remaining.  From that point on it was excruciating drama with CUW getting three consecutive defensive stops and Falcon Brittany Zietlow (Sr./ Oak Creek, Wis.) going to the free throw line on ensuing fouls.

Zietlow, who led CUW with 18 points, hit two at :49 to give CUW the lead 58-57 and another singleton at :32 to make it a two point game.  Two more charity tosses by "Z" made it a four point margin at the :15 mark.   

Edgewood got within two on Mariah Hill's free throws at :04 before Megan Coenen (Fr./ Pulaski, Wis.) sewed it up via twin charity daggers with one second on the clock.  In all, Zietlow came through with a 12-17 free throw performance. 

As a team, Concordia was 26 of 33 from the free throw line while Edgewood sank 10 of their 16 attempts.

Walker was amazing for the Eagles with a 21 point effort that included 9 of 10 shooting from the floor on a variety of difficult angle shots.

Both teams shot 37% from the floor and each side committed 17 turnovers.  The Eagles outrebounded CUW 40-33.

CUW will go after victory number 500 in school history on Saturday in a 2:00pm home matchup with Dominican.