Dec. 4, 2009

Box Score

The Peacock women's basketball team travelled to Si Melby Hall on the campus of Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minn. this evening for their Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference opener against the Golden Bears of Concordia-St. Paul. The contest was forced to be played at Augsburg due to Concordia's hosting of the 2009 NCAA Division II Volleyball Championships. CU's up tempo style of play proved to be too much for the visiting Peacocks as the Golden Bears came away with a 73-62 victory.

Even with cold shooting to start the contest, the Peacocks found themselves down just four points, 21-17, with eight minutes to go in the first half thanks in part to a perfect six-of-six from the charity stripe and running the shot clock down on every possession.

However, once the pace started to go in CU's favor, so did the lead. The home team held a 33-26 advantage with 2:24 left to play before halftime and then went on a 6-0 run to extend their lead to 13 at the half, 39-26.

Concordia shot an electric 14-of-29 (48.3%) from the field in the first half while UIU made just seven field goals on 23 attempts (30.4%) which included 4-of-10 from beyond the three-point arc. Sophomore Lana Otting led the Peacocks into the halftime break with seven points while Kenya Howard led the team in rebounds with four.

CU came out of the halftime break with the same intensity as they took into the break by rushing out on a 10-2 run to put the visitors in a 49-28 hole. As much as the Peacocks battled, they wouldn't be able to close within striking distance as they dropped their NSIC opener, 73-62.

The hot shooting Concordia had in the first half cooled just a bit in the second half as they shot 25-for-62 (40.3%) for the contest while Upper Iowa registered a 34.5% field goal percentage (19-55) which included a 7-of-23 (30.4%) clip from beyond the three-point arc.

Howard led the Peacocks with a double-double, 13 points and 12 rebounds, while Otting chipped in 11 points.

With the loss, UIU falls to 0-6 for the season and 0-1 in NSIC play while Concordia-St. Paul improves to 5-0 and 1-0 in league play.

The Peacocks will be back on the court tomorrow afternoon as they make the short trip to St. Cloud, Minn. to line up against the Huskies of St. Cloud State. The Huskies enter tomorrow's contest with an 0-1 NSIC record after falling at home to Winona State, 72-61, earlier this evening. Tip off is set for 4 p.m. inside Halenbeck Hall.