In the first Northern Athletics Conference contest of the 2010 year, the Concordia University Chicago Cougars defeated the Aurora University Spartans 69-46 Wednesday night in AU's Thornton Gymnasium.
The conference foes played a fairly even first half with four lead changes and the Cougars leading by as many as seven points with 8:30 to play in the opening half and the Spartans biggest lead being three points with two minutes to play.
Concordia would take a three-point lead into intermission at 33-30.For the half, AU sophomore guard Kristen Schaefer had nine points off the bench, while Cougar junior guard Marche Smith had 10 points.
The Cougars would maintain their advantage over the Spartans in the second half building up to their largest lead at 23 points with the final score of 69-46.
Neither team shot particularly well from the field on the night with the Cougars shooting 34.7 percent (25-of-72) and the Spartans shooting 34.0 percent (18-of-53).
The Cougars were able to grab 17 offensive rebounds in the contest which led to 27 second chance points and the Cougars also benefited from a 25 to 4 advantage in points off turnovers.
Top Spartan performers included freshman guard
Becky Gifford (11 points and eight rebounds) and Schaefer (nine points), while the Cougars were led by Smith (25 points and 12 rebounds) and senior forward Kim Williams (13 points and seven rebounds).
With the loss, the Spartans fall to 2-9 (1-5 NAC) while the Cougars improve to 5-5 overall and 2-3 in the NAC.
Next action for the Spartans comes on Saturday, January 9, as they travel to Maranatha Baptist Bible College in a Northern Athletics Conference matchup. Game time is set for 2:00 p.m. in Watertown, WisThornton Gymnasium.
