RIVER FOREST, Ill. - Edgewood College held Concordia Chicago to just 58 points in the Eagles' win earlier this season but had no answer for the Cougars' offense this time around on Saturday afternoon, falling 96-80 at Geiseman Gymnasium. Hill was one of four Eagles in double figures with 20 points but Concordia Chicago's Jaela DeJean led all scorers with 28.
The Cougars were hot from the field all day long, especially from the get-go. They were shooting over 60 percent well over halfway into the first half. The Cougars also scored the first nine points of the game and led by as many as 18 in the first half after a Divinity Stephens free throw with 6:26 left in the half. Mariah Hill would score the next five points for the Eagles to kick-start a run that would bring the Eagles to within nine at the break.
DeJean would score the first points of the second half on a pair of free throws to go up 11, but Mariah Hill hit a three and Rachel Pope converted on a layup to trim the Cougars' lead to six with 18:47 left. That would be the closest the Eagles would get to the high-flying Cougars offense, as Courtney Lofink responded by hitting triples on the next two possessions to put the Cougars back up 12.
About one minute later, Zoey Dougherty would convert on a layup to bring the Eagles within eight points, but Morgan Jahnke hit a jumper at 15:18 to give the Cougars a double-digit lead that they would hold all the way until the 5:15 mark. Jazmin Little converted on an old-fashioned three-point play to give the Eagles a glimmer of hope in the final minutes, but they were forced to foul from there on out and could never get any closer. The Eagles were just 4-for-15 (26.7%) from the field over the last five minutes of play.
Hill knocked down four three-pointers in the effort and turned in her first 20-point game since Feb. 8 of last season, when she scored 26 on 9-of-18 shooting against Rockford. Courtney Spangler finished with 14 points while Little (12) and Pope (11) also reached double figures for the Eagles. Little hit two three-pointers and her 12 points was a career-high.
The Cougars ended up shooting 48.3 percent (29-of-60) on the day and went 30-of-40 from the free throw line. DeJean was 7-for-12 from the field and an impressive 14-of-17 from the charity stripe. Five other Cougars finished in double figures on the day.
The Eagles will return home Wednesday, Jan. 14 for a 7 pm tilt against Rockford University at the Todd Wehr Edgedome.
