BOX SCORE

Austin, Texas – Brianna Smith netted 17 points and registered four steals and Deja Thomas matched her career-best scoring mark in her final collegiate game to lead the Concordia University Texas women's basketball team to a 71-55 victory over Schreiner on Saturday, Feb. 19 at the Concordia Field House. The Tornados, who lost a tiebreaker to Mary Hardin-Baylor for the fourth and final playoff spot, ended the season on a high note by registering their second straight victory to close out the 2010-11 season.

Schreiner (5-20, ASC 3-18), which ended its season on a nine-game slide, gained a 3-2 advantage on a 3-pointer by Lia Phillips at the 17:21. But less than a minute later, Smith drained one of her three field goals from long range to put the Tornados ahead for good. Phillips, who was one of two Mountaineers to net double figures, tried to keep the visitors within striking distance and hit a jumper in the paint to make it 20-11 with 10:26 left. Concordia, however, rattled off 10 straight points by getting five field goals from four different players, and built up a 36-24 advantage at the break.

The Mountaineers were able to bring the deficit down to nine on two occasions in the opening five minutes of the second half on jumpers made by Olivia Swarner and Jasmin Copeland, but Skylar Lott put the Tornados ahead by double figures for the rest of the game when she finished a pass from Kaleigh Landry to put the Tornados ahead by a 45-34 score before the first media timeout.

The Concordia lead ballooned to 19 on a Tiesha Martin jumper at the 8:52 mark and maxed out at 20 points when Christen McLee hit a pair of free throws to create a 71-51 score with just over a minute to play. The Mountaineers scored the next four points to close out the game, but the baskets proved to be too little and too late, allowing the Tornados to still cruise to the 16-point win.

Smith's 17-point effort on 7-for-14 shooting from the field, including 3-for-7 from long range, to pace Concordia came two days after she lit up for a season-high 28 points in an 86-73 victory over Texas Lutheran. Martin netted 11 to close out the 2010-11 campaign with her third straight double-digit scoring effort. Thomas, who was honored after the game for her contributions to the program as part of the Senior Day festivities, ended her career with one of her best individual performances. The Austin native and Texas Southern transfer finished with 10 points, which matched a personal best, and a season-high and team-leading seven rebounds. Swarner paced Schreiner with 18 points and eight boards, while Phillips accounted for 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

First-year head coach Rusty Rainbolt guided Concordia (14-10, ASC 13-8), which returned only four letterwinners, to its first winning campaign in three years and its best winning percentage in six seasons. The program finished 16-10 overall and 15-7 in conference play in 2004-05. The Tornados are slated to bring back all of their starters and 13 of their 14 letterwinners next season, including 96 percent of their scoring and 97 percent of their rebounding production.