APPLETON, Wis. — The Concordia University Chicago women’s basketball team scored six consecutive points in a stretch of 38 seconds in the final minutes Wednesday and went on to pull out a 68-57 non-conference win over Lawrence University at Alexander Gymnasium.
Lauren Orr paced Concordia (3-3) with 18 points, and Courtney Lofink added 12 points and five assists for the Cougars.
Patsy Kealey and Andrea Wilkinson both posted double-doubles for the Vikings (0-6), who were playing without top scorer Liz Arco.
Kealey finished with a game-high 22 points on 10-for-12 shooting from the floor to go with 11 rebounds. Wilkinson had 14 points and a game-high 15 rebounds to go with five assists, three blocks and two steals. Aubrey Scott added eight points and seven rebounds for the Vikings.
Lawrence battled back from a six-point halftime deficit in the third quarter to lead by five points in the period. The Vikings opened the period with an 8-1 run, capped by back-to-back layups from freshman Sammi Jo Nixon, to take a 28-27 lead with 6:42 left in the quarter.
The Vikings were up one when a layup from Kealey and free throws from Wilkinson and Kealey gave Lawrence a 43-38 edge with 31 seconds left. Orr hit a jumper to cut the lead to 43-40 after three quarters.
The teams traded the lead in the fourth quarter, but the vikings were up 52-51 after Kealey’s jumper with 4:36 remaining. Taylor Jacobsen hit a 3-pointer for the Cougars, and Sheyla Kahalehoe followed with a layup to give Concordia a 56-52 edge.
Kealey hit another jumper to trim the margin to 56-54, but the Cougars then put on the decisive spurt. Orr hit a 3-pointer and Erin Jacobsen scored the next three points to stretch the margin to 62-54 with 1:53 left. The Cougars then hit five of their next six free throws to seal the victory.
Turnovers and missed free throws really hurt the Vikings. Against the Cougars’ pressing defense, Lawrence turned the ball over a season-high 35 times. Concordia was whistled for 26 fouls, but the Vikings were unable to take advantage of that. Lawrence went just 16-of-35 from the foul line.