Concordia- Ann Arbor 58, Concordia-Chicago 54

(Jan. 30, 2010 - Mequon, Wisc.) -- The Concordia Cardinal women's basketball team had lost their last three Concordia Invitational Tournament games overall and their last three in the series against the Cougars of Concordia-Chicago. With a little more than seven minutes remaining on Saturday afternoon, the Cards enjoyed an 18-point lead and seemed poised to cruise to their first CIT victory since winning the opening game in the 2008 tournament. A late flurry saw the Cougars pull within a basket and after two missed free throws by Megan Mannarino (Sr. - South Lyon, Mich.), the ball and the chance to tie or take the lead with less than a minute remaining. The Cougars failed to seize the opportunity and the Cards would knock down a pair of freebies down the stretch to seal the 58-54 win for the Cardinals.

The Cardinals, who shot poorly on Friday's opening round game, hit half their shots in the first half Saturday (14-of-28) while finishing with a 40.4 percent shooting for the game in the win.

Elyse Schlump (Jr. - Cedar Springs, Mich.) would have a solid afternoon as she finished with a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds with three assists to boot. Kortni Elsworth (So. - Goodrich, Mich.) would lead the Cardinals in scoring with 15 points while Hannah Sabol (Fr. - Shelby Twp., Mich.) added a dozen points, with five rebounds and five steals.

Marche Smith lead all scorers with 17 points while Melissa Schwab added 11 points for the Cougars.

With the victory, Concordia-Ann Arbor improves to 13-11 on the season and is now one win away from matching the 14 wins in the 2007-08 season, which is the fifth highest total in Cardinal history (the top four seasons for victories all occurred between 1980-81 and 1985-86 - with the latter being number four on the list at 15). The school record for wins in a season is 23 inthe 1982-83 season, the lone 20-plus win season in Concordia-Ann Arbor history.

The Cardinals have two road games this coming week that are crucial as they hope to secure a first-round home playoff game. On Wednesday, Concordia travels to Adrian to play Siena Heights University looking to avenge an earlier 71-68 loss on Jan. 13. The Saints are one-game ahead of the Cards in the standings with a 4-4 conference record.

On Saturday, Concordia heads to Ft. Wayne, Indiana to play the Warriors of Indiana Tech (9-15, 2-6 WHAC). In the first meeting between the two, the Cardinals held on for a 78-71 win.