Only Six Turnovers In Wire-To-Wire Win At St. Olaf

NORTHFIELD, Minn.  (1/07/14)—It only took Concordia one game, and an impressive turnover-less effort, to shake off the rust from the holiday break. The Cobbers, who lost to St. Mary's on Saturday in their first game after a three-week break, used a stifling defense, only turned the ball over six times and beat St. Olaf 83-57.

The six turnovers is the fewest of the season for Concordia and least since before the 1998-99 campaign when offensive turnover stats were regularly tracked. It is spans a total of over 396 games.        

The win is the third in the last four games for the Cobbers and moves their overall record to 7-3. CC is now 4-2 in the MIAC. The victory also fives Concordia head coach Jessica Rahman 199 career victories with the Cobbers. She needs one more win to become the first basketball coach in Concordia history to reach the 200-win plateau.

The Oles lose for the first time in the last three games and are now 6-3 overall and 4-2 in league play.

Concordia never trailed in the game as they scored seven of the first nine points in the opening half and then bolted to a double-digit lead at 21-10 just seven minutes into the contest. CC pushed the lead to as many as 20 points in the first half and then took a 43-24 lead into the break.

The Cobbers continued to stretch the lead in the second half and never allowed St. Olaf to get within 23 points in the final 16:30 of play.

Concordia was 29-for-72 (40.3%) from the floor and 8-for-22 (36.4%) from outside the arc. The 72 field goal attempts and 22 3-point tries are the most in conference play this season for CC.

The Cobbers' defense contested every St. Olaf shot and forced St. Olaf to shoot a season low 28.6% (16-for-56) from the field. The Oles were forced to go to the outside to try and beat Concordia's height advantage and wound up going 7-for-19 (36.8%) from long distance. The Cobbers also forced 19 turnovers from the Oles while only having six miscues on their offensive end.

CC was outrebounded 41-40 but held a decided 30-14 advantage in points in the paint.  

Alley Fisher, Greta Walsh, Alexandra Lippert and Kelsey Walloch all scored in double figures for Concordia. Fisher had a game-high 20 points and went 6-for-13 from 3-point range. It is her second 20-point game of the year and came one game after being held to a season-low two points vs. St. Mary's. Fisher is now averaging 14.5 points per game in the team's seven wins and 4.0 ppg in the three losses.

Walsh was 6-for-9 from the floor and added 16 points. She has now scored in double figures in five straight games. Lippert and Walloch – the team's center tandem – combined for 20 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks. Lippert had all four blocks of the two and now has 29 rejections on the year which leads the MIAC.

Olivia Johnson had a game-high nine rebounds while Erika Jossart chipped in a game-high five assists.

Concordia will stay on the road and play at Carleton on Wednesday, Jan. 8 at 5:45 p.m. in the second half of their back-to-back conference road trip.