As our last game of the regular season rolled around, our girls had a game plan and were ready to take on one of our big rivals, the Lady Crusaders of Concordia Lutheran High School . Going into the District Tournament next week, Concordia is ranked #2 and we're ranked as the #7 team (out of 9 teams). The game began with a quick start. Concordia came out with a press we couldn't seem to break. We also were about a half a step behind most plays and began to foul. The combination of the two put us in a hole early in the game. We were down after one by the score of 17-6. After the 1 st period, the girls regained their composure. After being down by the score of 26-9, we went on a rally with Bailee Pender hitting two 3-pointers and Brittany Flowers scoring four quick points (2 for 2 from the line) bringing the score to 28-18. At the half, the score remained in Concordia's favor, 33-20. CLHS made 13 free throws in the first half due to the fact that we (NCS) had 12 fouls to their 6. The third period felt much like the first and Concordia shot the ball twice as many times as we did (16 to 8) and advanced their lead to 47-25 by the end of the third. The fourth period was more controlled by both teams. Our girls continued to play hard but only managed to score 3 more points. Concordia won by the final score of 54-28. We held Concordia to 54 points this game, well below their season average, and 12 less points than the first meeting between our two schools earlier this year; but we couldn't manage to score as many on our end. Once again, our girls played with a lot of heart and fight and continued to play until the game ended. Concordia was a tough team and we have to give credit where credit is due. They're not ranked #2 in the district for no reason. I still feel that we'll be a tough to beat in the District Tournament (which starts on Monday). We'll play Houston Christian in the first round. If we win, we're one game away from the playoffs. If we lost, our season is over.

As a team, we shot 5 for 22 (23%) from the floor, 4 for 8 (50%) from behind the arc and 6 for 6 (100%) from the free throw line. Bailee Pender led the team with 9 rebounds and Emily Wilson followed with 7. Bailee also led the team with 3 assists and Brittany Flowers added to the team total with 2 of her own, along with 2 steals (which led the team). Out of the teams' 5 blocked shots, Allison Gilbert led the way with 2. Bailee and Brittany also led the team in points with 11 apiece.