(Feb. 24, 2010 - Ann Arbor, Mich.) -- In the 32 years that the Concordia women's basketball team has been in existence they had never had the pleasure of playing a playoff game of any sort on their home court. That is until this year when the Cardinals will host Cornerstone University in the opening round of the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference postseason. Concordia won the right by tying Cornerstone and Madonna for third place, and via the tie-breaking system was awarded the fourth seed.

Despite the excitement surrounding the first-ever foray into a home playoff game, the Cardinals are looking to do something else never accomplished at any site in the playoffs: win. All told in a baker's dozen appearances, Concordia is 0-13 as a member of the WHAC. Even more ominous is the fact that the closest loss in that span is the seven-point defeat to Davenport in the 2005-06 season when the Cards fell 75-68.

But the 2009-10 Concordia Cardinals have proven one thing: the past is all but forgotten and the now is forever changing into the favor of the women from Ann Arbor.

This season, Concordia snapped a 16-game losing streak that spanned eight seasons when they knocked off Cornerstone 81-69 on Feb. 10. Played on the Cardinal home court, Hannah Sabol (Fr. - Shelby Twp., Mich.) recorded a double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds, en route to a WHAC Player of the Week award.

Elyse Schlump (Jr. - Cedar Springs, Mich.) followed suit with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Kortni Elsworth (So. - Goodrich, Mich.) matched Sabol with 18 points. Kelly Cieslak (Fr. - Brighton, Mich.) added 11 points with three rebounds for good measure.

The win made head coach Andrea Gorski 1-3 all-time against Concordia, giving her 20 percent of the total wins in the series for the Cards as they are now 5-29 all-time.

The two teams have met in the postseason only three times, with the most recent being a 69-53 Golden Eagle victory on Feb. 21, 2007. The two previous meetings were back-to-back matchups in the '96-97 and '97-98 seasons as Cornerstone quickly dispatched the Cards in both.

With a roster full of underclassmen, the Cardinals are out to continue this year's unofficial motto: the future is bright and the future is now. Only Megan Mannarino (Sr. - South Lyon, Mich.) is a starting senior, a point guard who is one of the best ever in assists and steals in Cardinal lore, while the rest are all underclassmen.

Thursday evening, the Cardinals will either make an immediate statement that they are a serious player in the conference playoffs or plant the seed that this current crop will be back to stake a new claim in the 2010-11 season. Either way, Concordia women's basketball is a whole new ballgame.