The Concordia College Alabama women’s basketball team shook off a slow start and kept their hopes of winning back to back national championships alive.

The Hornets trailed by four at halftime after an 8-point second quarter, but outscored Paul Quinn by 22 in the second half to pull away for a 79-61 win in the quarterfinals of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association national tournament. Carshava Sulton, Lashanique Youngblood and Shuntavia Harris all recorded double-doubles for Concordia.

“We needed to pick up our energy and cut down on our turnovers. That was our biggest thing, and start playing with some passion and getting the ball inside,” said Concordia Howard White. “We did a pretty good job in the second half getting the ball inside and starting to attack the paint.”

Sulton scored 21 points and had 16 rebounds, Harris had 18 points and 10 rebounds and Youngblood scored 10 points to go along with 12 rebounds. Teondra Crawford was also in double figures with 19 points.

The Hornets outrebounded Paul Quinn 61-35.

Crawford was on fire out of the gate. She scored 12 points in the first quarter to lead the Hornets to a 19-15 lead after the first ten minutes.

Concordia struggled to make shots in the second quarter and it resulted in Paul Quinn taking a 31-27 lead at the break.

Concordia was just 3-for-15 from the field in the second period and Paul Quinn outscored the Hornets 16-8.

The teams reversed roles in the third quarter. Sulton went 8-for-8 from the field in the third quarter and scored 16 points as Concordia outscored Paul Quinn 28-11.

Paul Quinn made just 3-of-13 shots in the third.

“I had scouted them so I knew that they played pretty good in the first half, but in the second half they wear down a little bit,” White said.

Concordia will have Thursday off before taking on Silver Lake in the USCAA semifinals Friday.

White said he will give the Hornets Wednesday off with no practice, so that they’ll have their legs underneath them for Friday’s game.

“We will get to the gym a little earlier on Friday and get some shots up and get ready for the game,” White said.

The tournament is being played at Penn State Fayette in Pennsylvania.
Concordia 81, Iowa Wesleyan 71 (Men’s Basketball)

Dennis Miles made 12-of-13 shots and scored 24 points as the Concordia men topped Iowa Wesleyan 81-71 in the quarterfinals of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association national tournament.

Miles led four Concordia players in double figures. The Hornets shot 49.3 percent from the field and held Iowa, a good 3-point shooting team, to just 5-of-21 from behind the arc.

“We knew they were a lot smaller than we were, so we wanted to pound the ball inisde,” said Concordia coach Fredrick Summers.

Miles had 24 points and 14 rebounds to lead the effort, but he was far from the only Concordia player to have a great night.

DeAngelo Anthony scored 17 points and made 8-of-11 free throws. Christian Bryant scored 13 points and had 10 assists and 4 steals. Tavin Cummings scored 14 points on 16 shots.

“It keeps the other team from keying in on one or two guys,” Summers said of his team’s balance on offense.

Concordia led 39-35 at halftime and took a 70-54 lead on a Miles’ jump shot with 6:40 left to play. Iowa didn’t get closer than 10 the rest of the way.

The Hornets will play Barea College in semifinals on Thursday night at 9 p.m. CT.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us tomorrow,” Summers said.

“We’ve got to take care of the basketball and attack the glass on the offensive end. They are a good offensive rebounding team as well.”