Concordia 65, Madonna 39

(January 27, 2010 - Ann Arbor, Mich.) -- The Concordia women's basketball team had solid ball movement, an oppressive defense and dominance in the post as the Cardinals cruised to a 65-39 win over the Crusaders of Madonna University. Kyrie Cramer (So. - Ida, Mich.) picked up her first double-double of the season with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Hannah Sabol (Fr. - Shelby Twp., Mich.) lead all scorers with 20 points while the Cards held Madonna to 21 percent shooting on the night in the victory.

Aside from a 9-9 tie five minutes into play, the tempo and scoreboard of the game was securely in the hands of Concordia all night. Sabol broke the tie after taking a feed from Kortni Elsworth (So. - Goodrich, Mich.) in the paint put the Cards up for good at 11-9.

Elsworth finished the night with 14 points, nine assists (the most by a Cardinal player dince Sarrah Palmer had 10 against Wright State-Lake University on Nov. 8, 2003), three rebounds and a pair of assists - plus a devastating block late in the game. Concordia finished with six blocked shots, three by Cramer.

A seven-point run the final three minutes of the first-half allowed the Cardinals to head to the locker room with their first double-digit lead of the game with a 34-23 advantage. Sabol converted a pair of free throws, with Elsworth draining a three-pointer and Cramer taking a beautiful feed from Elsworth with a few ticks on the clock to drop in a layup to close out the half.

Madonna would score the first eight points of the second half and things looked like they were about to get interesting before Concordia retaliated with an eight-point stretch themselves. Cramer scored the first six points with Elyse Schlump (Jr. - Cedar Springs, Mich.) adding the final touch and the lead again was 11 at 42-31 and 12:11 remaining on the clock.

Schlump, who struggled shooting on 2-of-11, worked tirelessly on the glass and finished with a half dozen rebounds with four assists to go with her five points.

A Madonna bucket cut the lead to nine and then the Cards exploded for a dozen straight points as they destroyed any remaining optimism on the Crusader bench. The lead would remain above the 20-point mark for the duration of the game as head coach Andrea Gorski began to utilize her bench down the stretch giving those players some much-earned playing time and experience.

All-told it was the work in the paint that gave Concordia its biggest advantage as the Cards outscored Madonna 38-16 inside the key while outrebounding them 53-43.

After a weekend trip to participate in the 59th annual Concordia Invititational Tournament, this year in Wisconsin, the Cardinals (12-10, 3-5 WHAC) will return to conference action with a pair of road games: Feb. 3 at Siena Heights and Feb. 6 at Indiana Tech.