Concordia Women's Basketball banked its first bid to the PacWest Tournament with the no. 4 seed and opened up play with no. 5 Point Loma. This year, the Eagles and the Sea Lions spit their series 1-1, each winning on visiting territory. Thursday's rematch in Riverside, Calif. was highlighted by a second half comeback from the Eagles. After falling behind by 15 in the first half, CUI buckled down and battled back. Despite an impressive team effort, the Eagles dropped the contest 63-60. 

Point Loma pulls ahead: After a closely fought first quarter, Point Loma pushed ahead with a strong second, where they outscored the Eagles 23-11. Concordia kept it close early in the second period, with layups from Riley Friauf and Montana Walters holding them within four, but a Sea Lion 14-point run created a 17-point gap for the Eagles. Michaela Vanderklugt hit a final three-point to send CUI to the break trailing by 15.

A Concordia Catalyst: Freshman Reilly Walsh set the tone for the Eagles' second half of play with a deep shot on the pass from Vanderklugt. Concordia continued to chip away at the Sea Lions, fueled early by Vanderklugt's seven-straight. Friauf stepped up next with six points in the paint for the Eagles. With the momentum in Concordia's favor, Montana Walters struck next with a shot from three-point territory to place the Eagles within six, and ultimately within five entering the final period. The Sea Lions maintained a slight lead over Concordia at the start of the fourth, but CUI pressured on defense and sliced the eight-point advantage to just three on baskets from Vanderklugt and Sopavy Seng with 1:46 to play. Concordia hustled to hold Point Loma, but could not convert offensively to take over the game, dropping the matchup 63-60. 

Eagle Eye: Vanderklugt posted a double-double with 18 points an 15 rebounds along with two assists and two steals. Friauf added 15 of her own with three rebounds and an assist. Walters tallied 12 points, seven assist, six rebounds and two steals. 

A historic season: Concordia finished the season 16-11 and 13-7 in the PacWest Conference. The Eagles punched their first ever ticket to the conference tournament and concluded the year in fourth. Under the new leadership of Christine Collins-Kiernan, the team won six more games than the previous year, with five in conference competition. Vanderklugt earned the first ever Freshman of the Year award for CUI in the NCAA Div. II era. She was named PacWest Freshman of the Week three times and PacWest Player of the Week once. Walters snagged the first ever Concordia Women's Basketball Player of the Week award and ended her career with All-PacWest Honorable Mention honors.

"To restart again this year and make it this far was tremendous," Walters said. 

CUI also claimed their first win over Hawaii Pacific University and took down Point Loma for the first time in eight years. 

"My team, all year has fought," Head Coach Collins-Kiernan said. "We play really hard, we play really together and we compete night in and night out and they showed that in the second half. We just needed 45 more seconds."