The Case Western Reserve University women's basketball team wrapped up the 2024 portion of its schedule on Monday afternoon with an 80-54 loss to Concordia College (Minn.) in the Championship Game of the Gratz Park Private Wealth Holiday Tournament at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky.

The loss dropped the Spartans to 5-5 on the season while the Cobbers raised their record to 6-4.

Junior guard/forward Emily Plachta led the team in scoring for the third-straight game, dropping 20 points on a six-of-14 shooting effort overall, including five-of-10 from long range, with two rebounds, two steals, and an assist. Senior forward Evie Miller added nine points, seven rebounds, four blocks, and three assists, while sophomore guard Mya Hartjes dished out seven assists to match her career high and scored five points.

In contrast to their first game of the tournament against Transylvania, the Spartans got off to a slow start on Monday, as Concordia scored the first 15 points of the game and went on to lead 23-5 by the end of the first quarter. CWRU climbed back into the game in the second period behind an 11-point output from Plachta during the frame that included three three-pointers. Her final three of the frame came at the 2:52 mark and trimmed the Cobbers' advantage to just eight points, 33-25, but a 6-0 Concordia run to close the half put the Spartans behind by 14, 39-25, heading into the break.

Concordia quickly increased its lead to 19 at the start of the third before back-to-back threes from Plachta made it a 13-point game, 44-31, with 8:36 remaining in the third, but the Cobbers responded with a 13-0 run to go ahead by 26 points. Concordia closed out the third quarter with a 61-37 lead and led by as many as 26 points in the fourth quarter en route to the tournament-clinching victory.

The Spartans will now turn their attention to the start of University Athletic Association play on Saturday, January 11 when the team will host 19th-ranked Carnegie Mellon University inside Horsburgh Gymnasium in Cleveland at 3:00 p.m.

Spartan Notes

• This was Plachta's second 20-point effort of the season, each of which has come in the team's last three games. She is averaging 19.3 points per game on 52.6% shooting overall and 56.0% shooting from long range over the last three games.

• With her four blocks on Monday, Miller now has 30 for the season, just seven short of her career-high and tied for the 16th-most in a single season in program history. She is three blocks away from becoming just the sixth player in program history to reach 100 career blocks.

• CWRU dropped to 0-2 all-time against Concordia following Monday's loss. The first meeting resulted in a 62-59 loss for the Spartans during the 2007-08 season.

• While Monday's game was the Spartans' final contest before the start of UAA play, CWRU has one more non-conference game remaining on its schedule, a Monday, January 13 contest at Marietta College that is a makeup of a previously postponed contest.