Lourdes led Concordia (Mich.) at halftime and trailed by just four heading into the final period, but the Cardinals pulled away in the fourth quarter to defeat Lourdes 78-65 on Wednesday evening at Cardinal Fieldhouse in Ann Arbor, Mich.
 
Concordia built a seven-point lead, 21-14, after scoring on the opening possession of the second quarter, but the Gray Wolves scored six straight points, and pulled within one, following a Taylor Geib (Ravenna, Ohio/Ravenna H.S.) basket inside.  The Gray Wolves continued the run, making it a 16-4 spurt, taking the lead, and increasing the advantage to five, 32-27, on a putback by Jesse Fidler (Archbold, Ohio/Archbold H.S.) with 1:23 to play before break.  Lourdes was able to maintain a lead the rest of the half, taking a 34-32 advantage into the locker room.
 
Two straight Gray Wolf turnovers to start the third quarter led to Cardinal baskets, giving the hosts the lead, and Lourdes would not be able to regain the advantage the rest of the game.  Concordia pushed the lead to as many as six in the period before taking a 47-43 lead into the final 10 minutes.
 
A triple by Molea Thompson (Mansfield, Ohio/Madison H.S.) to start the fourth pulled Lourdes to within one, but Concordia scored the next six points to regain control.  Seven straight points by the Cardinals late in the quarter allowed Concordia to secure the victory and remain unbeaten on the season.
 
Thompson led Lourdes with 20 points on the afternoon while Elayna Ackerman (Fremont, Ohio/Ross H.S.) added 13 more.  Fidler registered a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds while Geib pulled down a team-high 11 boards as the Gray Wolves outrebounded Concordia 39-36.
 
Lourdes finished the game shooting 40.6% from the floor, but committed 25 turnovers.
 
"We had some mental lapses on defense," head coach Summer Quesenberry said afterwards.  "We have to focus on our controllables.  They scored 18 points off of our turnovers and 16 on second chance points.  Basketball is a beautiful sport though, in that we get to get back in the gym and have the opportunity to correct our mistakes and compete again on Saturday."
 
Concordia (6-0, 3-0 WHAC) had five players score in double figures, led by 17 points from Kari Borowiak.  Brianna Rowe added 15 points and Karlee Morris tallied 14 points along with a game-high 12 rebounds.
 
The Cardinals shot 48.3% from the floor, but was held to just 27.8% from three-point range, well below its 43.2% team average coming into the contest.  The Cardinals also had 18 turnovers.
 
Lourdes (1-7, 1-2) will step out of conference action on Saturday afternoon, traveling to Olivet, Mich. to battle Olivet.  Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. at the Cutler Event Center.