Women's Basketball Wallops Willamette

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Concordia Wisconsin women's basketball team opened up the Rocky Mountain Tournament with a fantastic Friday victory over the Bearcats of Willamette of Oregon. The 61-54 victory elevates Concordia to 3-1 on the young season.

The two teams found themselves in a battle for the first seven minutes with neither team able to build a lead larger than one possession.

With the game tied at 10, the Falcons used a 6-0 run to take a 16-10 lead with 1:18 left in the first quarter. Sophomore Ava Booth (Plymouth, Wis.) had four of the six points in the run.

Concordia held a 16-12 lead after the first quarter. CUW had 12 of the 16 points from inside the paint.

Freshman Gracie McNabb (Grafton, Wis.) boosted the lead to 26-19 with a three-point basket to give the Falcons their biggest lead of the game.

After senior Madeline Taubenheim (Menomonee Falls, Wis.) drained a free throw at 32-24, the Wolverines landed one of their own to send the Falcons into halftime leading, 32-25.

The Falcons started the third quarter with baskets from senior Erin Viergutz (Clintonville, Wis.) and junior Aubrey DeBauch (Gillett, Wis.) to elevate the lead to nine points.

Willamette scratched back and cut the Concordia lead to two points before Ava Booth drained a three-point basket and a jumper from DeBauch pushed the lead back to 45-38.

A buzzer-beater gave the Falcons a 45-40 lead leading into the fourth quarter.

The Falcons did not allow a point for nearly the first four minutes of the fourth quarter on Friday.

A 5-0 run was capped off by a layup from Erin Viergutz to extend the lead to 52-42.

Willamette cut the lead to 57-51 with 25 seconds left, but the Falcons secured the victory with free throws from junior Lindsey Lonigro (Deerfield, Wis.) and Ava Booth.

Ava Booth led the flock with 16 points in the victory.

Aubrey DeBauch was a point shy of a double-double performance with 15 rebounds and nine points.

Freshman Jayden Ross (Baraboo, Wis.) dished out a game-high five assists.

The Falcons dominated the glass with a 48-35 advantage in rebounds.

The Blue and White close out their Rocky Mountain tour on Saturday against the host Tigers of Colorado College.