The SXU women’s basketball team ended their regular season at 24-5 overall, and 17-5 in the CCAC. The CCAC tournament began last Monday as the Cougars had a bye because they held the No. 2 seed in the tournament.
However, on Wednesday, the Cougars drew the No. 7 seeded team, Indiana University-South Bend, in the Quarterfinal round. The Cougars had beaten the Titans both times they faced them in the regular season.
Wednesday’s game, however, was not like the other two. The Titans came firing out of the gate and showed their dominance early in the ball game.
The Cougars struggled to get anything going early as they missed a lot of shots that normally go right in. SXU shot 30 percent from the field in the first half and struggled to get rebounds.
Nichole Sly and Ashley Carson hit some big shots early on in the contest to give IUSB a boost and Courtney Simpson provided a huge boost with her mid range jumper and rebounding success. The score, at the end of one half, was 39-26 in favor of the Titans.
Morgan Stuut was the only player in double digit scoring for the Cougars at halftime with 10 points. The person with the second most points on the team was a tie between Suzie Broski and Niara Harris with just four points.
Some big stats at halftime included IUSB going 10-12 from the free throw line and the Cougars were only 6-7 from the line. The other stat was that the Titans were 3-7 from beyond the arc, while the Cougars were a cold 0-4 from 3- point range.
With 12:15 remaining in the ball game the Cougars found themselves down 55-37, a deficit of 18 points. This was not the Saint Xavier women’s basketball team we were used to seeing.
However, the Cougars clawed their way back and made it a three point game with 1:41 left to play. The Cougars also had two big defensive plays in a row which led to fast breaks, but each time the layups were missed.
These missed layups which would have put the Cougars up by one proved to be a crucial factor in the outcome of the game, as the Cougars went on to lose in an absolute shocker by the score of 70-64.
Stuut ended the game with her 18th double double of the season with 20 points and 11 rebounds, while Broski ended the game with 16 points for the Cougars.
Chrissy Heine also got into double figures in scoring with 11 points. It was a very tough loss for Saint Xavier, as they were expected to compete for the CCAC championship.
Now, Saint Xavier has to wait until tonight to find out what their fate will be in the National Tournament. Tonight is when all the seedings and pairings will be released, so make sure you check it out.
We will have all the news posted to the sxucougars.com website once all the information has come out.
Brandon Swanson
Sports Correspondent
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