Abilene Cowgirls 47 Concordia 31

Abilene – The Abilene Cowgirls wouldn’t have to worry about missed free-throws Tuesday night in their 47-31 victory over Concordia.  Abilene lost 39-36 at Concordia on December 17 because they struggled at the line in the 4th quarter.  Tuesday night, Senior Jenna Hayes made sure it wouldn’t come down to free-throws as she finished with a career-high 20 points.  For Hayes, it was her third straight game in double-figures.

Abilene jumped on Concordia 14-5 at the end of the 1st quarter and never looked back.  The Cowgirls led 22-9 at halftime, 31-23 after three quarters and got up by as many as 18 points in the final quarter.

The Cowgirls improved to 3-10, 1-5 with the win, while Concordia slipped to 3-11, 1-6 with the loss.  The Lady Panthers were led by Taylor McDaniel, who tied her career-high with 15 points.

Abilene Cowboys 59 Concordia 54

Abilene – The Abilene Cowboys have had multiple games slip away from this season but they wouldn’t let it happen Tuesday night.  Concordia used a 9-2 run to tie the game at 54 with 1:11 to play.  Abilene’s Thomas McClendon would then connect on just his third three-pointer of the season to give the Cowboys the lead for good with 52 seconds left.

Concordia’s Cav Carlgren was the hero in the first match-up on December 17, a 53-50 Panther victory.  The Cowboys held Carlgren to just 2 points through the first 3 quarters, he finished with 12.  Concordia kept in the game with the play of Senior, Tyler Hobrock, who scored a career-high 26 points.  He scored just 4 points in the first meeting.

The Cowboys like in the first meeting fell behind early.  They trailed 15-9 at the end of the first quarter.  Concordia led by as many as 10 points in the second quarter but Abilene closed the first half on an 8-0 run to tie the game at 30 at halftime.  The Cowboys led 42-38 after three quarters and led by as many as 7 points in the 4th quarter.

Abilene improved to 9-4, 5-1 with the victory and will host T.M.P. Hays on Friday.  The Cowboys are currently in first place in the NCKL.  Abilene was led by the Senior tandem of Cooper Wildey and Kaleb Becker, who were the Nex-Tech Wireless Players of the Game.  Becker finished with a team-high 20 points, while Wildey totaled 14.  Concordia fell to 8-6, 3-4 with the loss.  They are now 2-6 over their last 8 games after starting the season 7-0.