Box Score: CUW 61, EC 52
VIDEO: Replay of the entire game

MEQUON, Wis. -- A strong second half effort on both ends of the court allowed Concordia University Wisconsin to slip past visiting Edgewood College, 61-52, Saturday afternoon in the Northern Athletics Conference opener for both schools.

The initial 20 minutes was a battle of runs with the visitors taking an early 13-9 lead before CUW scored 14 straight to build a 23-13 cushion with just over four minutes remaining in the half.

Then it was the Eagles turn to rally as they outscored the Falcons 11-2 down the stretch to pull within 25-24 at halftime.

Head coach Stacey Brunner-Jones' team wasted no time asserting themselves in the second 20 minutes as they gradually pushed the one-point mid-game margin up to 46-35 with nine minutes left.

This time there was no meltdown in the final moments, although Edgewood did rally to within 56-52 with 29 seconds remaining.

From that point, junior point guard Brittany Zietlow (Oak Creek, Wis.) hit a trio of charity tosses and sophomore Anna Butler (Kewaskum, Wis.) laid in the final basket just before the buzzer sounded.

After a pair of sub-par performances in non-conference play, sophomore Katie Luethe (Oshkosh, Wis.) came up huge for CUW with 18 points, five rebounds, four steals and a pair of assists.

Zietlow and junior sharpshooter Tiffany Hendrickson (Ingleside, Ill.) each scored 11 points, with Zietlow connecting on 5-of-6 from the free throw line.

Mariah Hill led the Eagles with 14 points but the stingy Falcon defense held her to 6-of-19 shooting.

"We did what we had to do to win," offered Brunner-Jones. "Clearly we are a work in progress."

Neither team shot well with CUW hitting 39 percent and EC winding up at 36 percent. Both squads had problems handling the ball against aggressive man-to-man defense.

CUW had an uncharacteristic 17 turnovers, but only five of those occurred after halftime. The intense Falcon defense forced a whopping 23 Eagle miscues.

The Falcons travel to conference rival Marian University next Wednesday for a 7:00 p.m. matchup.