Women's Basketball gains momentum with victory at Marian

FOND dU LAC, Wis. – Concordia University Wisconsin's defense shut down Marian University in the second half on Tuesday en route to a dominating 69-42 road victory during the final Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference regular season game for both teams.

The Falcons earned the No. 2 seed for NACC Tournament and hosts No. 7 Aurora University on Saturday at 2 p.m. inside the R. John Buuck Field House during a quarterfinal game.

CUW (21-4, 17-3 NACC) clamped down on MU throughout the final 20 minutes and allowed just 18 points, which were the fourth fewest points allowed in a half this season. Meanwhile, the Falcons offense shot 54.8 percent (17-of-31) from the field in the second period and turned a four-point halftime lead into a comfortable 30-plus point difference with seven minutes to play.

It was CUW's 10th victory of 20 or more points, including four of the last five games.

Sophomore Megan Coenen (Green Bay, Wis.) and Madelyn Landgraf (Elkhart Lake, Wis.) led the way with 16 and 15 points, respectively. Senior Anna Butler (Kewaskum, Wis.) hauled in a career-high-tying 12 rebounds, while senior Katie Luethe (Oshkosh, Wis.) had eight points, 11 rebounds and four assists.

For the Falcons, all 14 players that dressed saw at least two minutes of action, with 11 finding the scoring column. They also outrebounded the Sabres 47-28 and outscored them 37-10 in the paint.

MU (7-18, 7-13 NACC) leads the NACC in 3-point makes, but was held to 5-of-21 (23.8 percent) in the defeat. Sarah Albert had 12 points, while Dani Duray finished with seven points and four rebounds.

CUW built a 12-point advantage seven minutes into the game, before MU answered with an 18-4 scoring run during an 11 minute stretch to make the game interesting. The Falcons responded and took a 28-24 lead into the intermission behind 14 first-half points from Coenen.

The offense in the second half was all CUW, as it missed just five field goal attempts during a 10-minute stretch to turn a four-point lead into an insurmountable 25-point advantage. The lead increased to 30 points three minutes later when sophomore Laura Kolander (Corcoran, Minn.) buried a triple.

Freshman Jessica House (Oneida, Wis.) ended with a career-high three assists, while Kolander dished out two helpers.