MEQUON, Wis. (SabreAthletics.com) – The Marian University women's basketball team had their three-game win streak snapped in a 75-68 loss to Concordia University Wisconsin in a Northern Athletics Conference road contest inside the R. John Buuck Field House this evening, Dec. 21.
The Falcons saw five players reach double-figures led by Brittany Zietlow and Tiffany Hendrickson, who each tallied 14 points. After the Sabres cut the deficit to one point at 61-60, Zietlow's layup started an 8-0 run to put the hosts up nine points, enough to carry them to the seven-point win.
Marian's
Alexis Becker led all scorers with 24 points on 8-of-17 shooting from the field and 8-of-13 from the free throw line. It was the sixth time the senior has reached 20 points or more in a contest and third straight game doing so.
Anna Smit added a career-high 15 points, including two three's and a 7-for-7 effort at the charity stripe.
The Falcons improved to 7-3 overall, 7-1 in the NAC with the win, while the Sabres fall to 7-4 (4-4 NAC) with the loss.
Marian failed to record a field goal for the last 4:26 of game action, which snapped the 8-0 Falcon run and gave a glimmer of hope for a comeback run. Although CUW struggled to hit much the field in the final 4:07, defense and free throws closed out the Sabres in the end.
CUW shot just 37.9 percent (11-for-29) from the field in the second half, following a 68.2 percent output in the first half. The Falcons ended the night with a 51.2 (26-for-51) percent clip from the field. The Falcons made just 21-of-37 free throw attempts, but it was enough to hold off a late Sabre run in the second half.
Marian, which entered the week third in the nation in three's made per game at 9.1, converted just six of 20 attempts from long range. The Falcons held the 20th-best three-point shooting in the nation,
Sarah Albert, to just one shot attempt in 17 minutes of action. The CUW defense also held the Sabres' second-leading scorer,
Elizabeth Zutz, to just two points on 0-for-7 shooting.
After falling behind 10-2 in the first half, the Sabres stormed back to cut the halftime deficit to just four points at 36-32. Marian led by five points on three separate occasions including a 53-48 advantage as late as the 10:42 mark in the second half.
The Sabres will enjoy some time off until Jan. 3-4, when they will play host to non-conference foes Finlandia and Northland on back-to-back nights.
