BOX SCORE

POSTGAME INTERVIEW WITH RUSTY RAINBOLT

Austin, Texas – Lashanda Luckey scored a career-high 23 points in a reserve role and Shamika Singleton posted a double-double to lead the Concordia University Texas women's basketball team to an eye-opening 82-71 victory over nationally-ranked Louisiana College on Monday, Dec. 19 at the CTX Field House. The Tornados led the Wildcats, who are 17th in the D3Hoops.com National Poll, for over 35 minutes en route to claiming their seventh straight win to start their 2011-12 campaign.

Concordia (7-0, ASC 6-0), which has won all seven of its games by double figures, scored on its first possession when Jessie Pittman finished a pass from Singleton. But Louisiana College, which has advanced to two straight NCAA Tournaments, responded with five straight points to take the lead.

The Tornados, however, would go ahead for good when Pittman set up Lashanda Luckey's good jumper with 14:51 to play in half. After a Natasha Gottlieb jumper brought the margin to a single point, Concordia went on an 8-1 run to start to pull away. Termeka Canada scored six straight points to keep her team ahead by eight before Louisiana College closed the deficit to two by a 37-35 score at the break thanks to a Shasidy Ludgood jumper on a fastbreak.

By not allowing the Wildcats to convert a field goal for more than five minutes, Concordia was able to regain its lead to a more comfortable margin by using an 8-1 run to begin the second half. A Singleton free throw extended the lead to double figures for the first time at 52-42 with 11:12 on the clock, but the Wildcats fought back and sliced the deficit down to four.

Following a 3-pointer by Gottlieb which put the Wildcats back into the game, Concordia got a 3-pointer from Luckey that ignited a 14-2 run. Singleton scored the last seven points during the stretch, which was capped by a tip-in that made it 68-52 at the 6:38 mark. Louisiana College would come no closer than nine points the rest of the way, as the Tornados ended the afternoon as one of the only undefeated teams left in the nation.

Luckey scored her 23 points by shooting 8-for-12 from the field and 4-for-5 from downtown to lead the way for Concordia. Singleton posted a double-double with 13 points and 13 boards. All of her points and 11 of her 13 rebounds came in the second half. Termeka Canada and Christen McLee added 13 and 10 points, respectively, off the bench, while McLee also had four helpers. Concordia had a decisive 55-25 advantage in bench points.

Louisiana College (8-2, ASC 6-1) was led by Gottlieb's 18 points and six rebounds. Danisha Allison fell just shy of a double-double with nine points and 10 boards, while Melody Criswell finished with nine points, six rebounds and four steals.

Concordia will return to action when it welcomes Wisconsin-Whitewater, which has been ranked as high as 21st nationally, for the CTX Christmas Classic on Thursday, Dec. 29 at 5:30 p.m.