Hot shooting Benedictine downs Women's Basketball

LISLE, Ill. – Concordia University Wisconsin did its best on Saturday afternoon to slow down Benedictine University, but eventually fell 69-53 inside the Rice Center. It was the first road loss for the Falcons in a month-and-a-half.

The Eagles and Falcons went back-and-forth for the first 11 minutes of the game, before BU broke a 17-17 tie with a 14-2 scoring run to take control of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference matchup. CUW got to within seven points a minute later, but trailed by double-digits the entire second half.

"I give all the credit to Benedictine," head coach Stacey Brunner-Jones said. "They were tougher, stronger and wanted it more than we did today. We weren't aggressive enough on either side of the ball, and didn't shoot well. In the end, it was a recipe for a loss. Our inexperience really showed today."

The Falcons were limited outside the 3-point arc and shot 1-of-8, while also losing the turnover battle for just the third time this season (13-12). They did, however, pull down 14 offensive rebounds and converted those second chance opportunities into 11 points.

Junior Megan Coenen (Green Bay, Wis.) paced the team with 10 points and eight rebounds, while junior Madelyn Landgraf (Elkhart Lake, Wis.) was held to nine points after scoring in double-figures ever game this season and 20-plus the last two contests.

Sophomore Sammi Blissett (Springfield, Ill.) ended with eight points, four assists and three steals. Freshman Audrey Scharmer (Winona, Minn.) and Brianna Wagner (Fond du Lac, Wis.) each scored seven points. Scharmer rejected a career-high-tying two shots and freshman Corrina Terrano (Phoenix, Ariz.) assisted on a career-high four field goals.

Vincenza Ranallo led all players with 24 points on 11-of-15 shooting, to go along with five rebounds, three assists and three steals. Meghan Novak added 18 points, including 9-of-10 at the free throw line, as well as four assists for the Eagles (7-6, 7-1 NACC), who are tied for the lead in the league standings.

The Eagles shot 50.0 percent from the field (25-of-50) and held the Falcons to their worst shooting performance of the season, 35.7 percent (20-of-56).

CUW (10-3, 7-3 NACC) returns to action on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. home NACC game against Dominican University inside the R. John Buuck Field House.