Women's Basketball earns NACC road win at Dominican

RIVER FOREST, Ill. – Concordia University Wisconsin had four players score in double-figures en route to a 64-56 victory at Dominican University on Saturday afternoon. The Falcons have won three-consecutive Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference games and in total seven of their past 10 contests.

CUW made 5-of-6 free throw attempts in the final 54 seconds to hold off DU, a team that hasn't won a league game this season. The Falcons held a double-figure advantage for nearly half the game, but received a scare when the Stars who got to within a point with 6:39 to play in the game.

The visiting Falcons shot an eye-popping 59.3 percent in the first half and led by as many as 19 points twice. It looked as if they were going to run away with the game, but a poor shooting performance (29.0 percent) in the final 20 minutes of action made the game interesting.

"It wasn't a pretty win, but it was still a win," head coach Stacey Brunner-Jones said. "We need to learn to be more consistent on both ends of the court, especially when on the road. There aren't many games left in the season and we shouldn't be making mistakes like we did today this late in the season."

Freshman Audrey Scharmer (Winona, Minn.) paced CUW with 14 points on 7-of-12 shooting and five rebounds, while junior Madelyn Landgraf (Elkhart Lake, Wis.) had 12 points (two 3-pointers) and four assists. Junior Megan Coenen (Green Bay, Wis.) scored 11 points and freshman Brianna Wagner (Fond du Lac, Wis.) recorded 11 points, eight rebounds and two steals off the bench.

Sophomore Taylor DeLong (Milwaukee, Wis.) tallied eight points in a reserve role and freshman Corrina Terrano (Phoenix, Ariz.) grabbed a career-high eight rebounds. Freshman Katelyn Sewall (Menasha, Wis.) and sophomore Sammi Blissett (Springfield, Ill.) each had four assists.

Allie Tapanes paced the Stars (1-21, 0-17 NACC) with 18 points and three assists, while Shamia Clark scored 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Jasmyn Hardin added six points, eight rebounds and three steals off the bench.

The Falcons grabbed 10 offensive rebounds and converted those opportunities into 16 second chance points. They also committed just 11 turnovers, but forced 16 Stars errors after forcing 24 in an earlier meeting on Jan. 14.

CUW put together a 17-5 scoring run during a six-and-a-half minute stretch to go in front by a wide margin, 33-14, in the first half. They eventually took a 37-24 lead into the locker room at halftime after receiving 21 points from the bench.

The advantage slowly dwindled, as the shooting touch diminished in the second half. DU got to within a point, 51-50, with 6:39 to play in the game. CUW made a layup on the ensuing possession and then turned up the defensive pressure and held the Stars 3-of-12 shooting down the stretch, to go along with two turnovers. Landgraf was able to help the Falcons seal the victory with four-straight free throws in the final 23 seconds.

CUW (17-5, 13-4 NACC) returns to action on Wednesday at 7 pm at MSOE.