The Dominican University women's basketball team (5-6, 1-5 NACC) tried to rally from an early deficit but came up short in an 80-69 loss to the Concordia University Chicago Cougars on Tuesday night at the Igini Sports Forum in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) action.
 
The Stars, paced by Timiya Ray's team-high 19 points, overcame a 15-point deficit in the second quarter, pulled within one, 51-50, when Ray buried a three with 2:02 to play in the third quarter and trailed just 54-52 heading into the fourth quarter.
 
In the fourth, the Stars surrendered five offensive rebounds and sent the Cougars to the free throw line ten times, as Concordia Chicago outscored the Stars, 26-17, to hold off Dominican. 
 
"Right now we have a lot of freshman and sophomores trying to figure out how to start and close out big games," commented Dominican's head coach, Gabby Johnson. "A slow start to the game and the second half put us in a hole that was too difficult to dig out of. Every possession must be capped by a defensive rebound if you want to beat good teams. That will need to be a focus of ours moving forward."
 
Ray was one of three Stars in double-figures scoring on the night.  Alexis Hoskins added 17 points and pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds for her first double-double of the season while freshman Stephenee Huggans dropped in 11 points in 26 minutes off the bench.
 
For the Cougars (8-2, 5-2), Crystal Corr scored a game-high 20 points on 7-for-15 shooting while Taylor Jacobsen added 17 points and Courtney Lofink finished with 11 points, 11 rebounds and ten assists.
 
The Stars have a quick turnaround, returning to the court at the Igini Sports Forum on Thursday night, hosting the Aurora University Spartans for a 7:00 p.m. tipoff.