And Then There Was One Atop The MIAC

NORTHFIELD, Minn. (1/23/13)—And then there was one. Concordia steadily pulled away from Carleton to claim a 60-51 win over the Knights and now sits all alone on top of the MIAC standings.

The Cobbers win, coupled with a loss from St. Thomas at St. Mary's means that Concordia is in first place in the league standings with eight games remaining in the regular season. CC is now 13-4 overall and has won 10 of their last 11 games. The Cobbers are 12-2 in conference play.

Concordia led for all but 55 seconds in their game at Carleton on Wednesday. The Cobbers steadily pulled away from the Knights in the final four minutes of the first half to take a 25-19 lead into the break. Concordia then scored the first 13 points of the second half to grab a 19-point lead at 38-19 with 13:12 to play in the game. CC would build the lead to 23 points with 8:30 to play before the Knights slowly dwindled the lead down to under 15 points and then scored 13 of the final 15 points to bring the final margin of victory to nine points.

The difference in the game came around the basket where Concordia outrebounded Carleton 42-29 and held a 34-18 edge in points in the paint. The Cobbers also altered several shots the Knights tried to put up around the lane and came away with season-high eight blocks.

Senior forward Tricia Sorensen led the Concordia offensive attack. She finished the game with 19 points, eight rebounds and five assists. She was the only CC player to have more than eight points in the game. Centers Alexandra Lippert and Kelsey Walloch championed the Concordia defensive stand. Lippert recorded five of the team's eight blocks while Walloch had seven rebounds. The five blocks for Lippert is the most this season and most since the fourth game of the 2011-12 season. 

The Cobbers will return home for a pair of games. Concordia will host Augsburg on Saturday, Jan. 26 at 1 p.m. and then St. Olaf on Wednesday, Jan. 30 at 5:45 p.m.