River Forest, IL – The Dominican University women's basketball team saw a five-point halftime lead turn into a two-point deficit heading into the fourth quarter before pulling out a 69-65 victory over Concordia University Chicago on Friday night.
Alisha Markley paced her team, tying for a game-high 17 points to go along with five assists. Stephenee Huggans also had five dimes while chipping in 14 points and Hannah Currant added 12 points on an efficient 5-of-9 shooting from the floor.
A Huggans layup cut the deficit to three, 11-8, at the 4:19 mark of the opening quarter before a 7-0 spurt by the Cougars made it a 10-point game at 18-8. The Stars got to the free throw line in the final minutes of the session to head to the second trailing 18-12.
A triple by Dasia Norris knotted the game at 18-18 just over a minute into a second session that saw the team trade buckets throughout. With Dominican down two, 29-27, with 2:39 remaining until the half, the Stars ripped off an 8-1 run that started with a bucket by Zaria Daniels and ended with a three-pointer by Huggans with three seconds left to give the home team a 35-30 advantage at the break.
The Cougars countered to start the second half as a 7-0 spurt helped them retake a slim edge, 38-35, four minutes into the quarter. Five straight points from Currant put the Stars back on top 40-38 but Concordia Chicago finished the session with all the momentum as they headed to the fourth holding a barrow 48-46 lead.
Markley tied it up on a driving layup for the first bucket of the fourth as once again each side traded buckets until a pull up jumper from Huggans put Dominican up 61-58 with 3:42 remaining. With each side in the bonus, Huggans made one of two from the line to hold nudge the margin to four, 64-60 with 2:18 left to go.
A timely three-point play by the Cougars trimmed the deficit to one, 66-65, with 17 seconds remaining but this time Huggans made both attempts from the charity stripe to force Concordia Chicago into a three-point situation with 11 seconds remaining in the game.
With no timeouts left to advance the ball, a frantic attempt by the Cougars missed and Huggans secured the rebound before being fouled with one second left as the Stars held on for a 69-65 win in their home opener.
"This was a great team win," said Head Coach
Antonio Rivas. "I'm proud of our effort and mental toughness. As hard as we work, I was happy to see them get the reward with today's result. We have to regroup and come back tomorrow with that same energy."
The teams had nearly identical numbers in field goal percentage, rebounds, and turnovers which is no surprise in a game that featured 16 lead changes and 12 ties. Where Dominican gained the edge was second-chance points (17-8) and bench points (18-9) with its biggest lead of the game being just five points.
The Stars will look to sweep the season series on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. inside the Igini Sports Forum.
