Second-Half Magic Falls Three Minutes Short

WINONA, Minn. (2/01/14)—Concordia used all its energy to battle back from a double-digit deficit in the second half and ran out of gas in the final three minutes before losing 72-69 at league-leading St. Mary's.

The loss ends Concordia's eight-game winning streak and drops them a full two games behind the No.21-ranked St. Mary's in the MIAC standings. CC is now 14-4 overall and 12-3 in league play. The Cobbers fall into third place in the conference standings while St. Mary's continues the trek towards its first MIAC regular-season title since 1985-86. SMU ups its season mark to 17-1 and 14-1 against league opponents.

The Cobbers tried to use their season-long second-half magic to overcome a 32-25 halftime deficit but used up all their power in the first 17 minutes erasing a lead that reached as many as 11 points with 13:36 to play. Concordia went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 47-43 with 11:44 to play. CC then grabbed their first lead of the second period on a layup by Greta Walsh with 8:00 left. From there the teams would trade the lead on three occasions and the score would be tied four times before St. Mary's went on an 11-8 run in the final 2:45 to close out the game.

Concordia had four players score in double figures and five players record at least five rebounds. CC was led by freshman guard Emma Peterson. Peterson, whose previous season high was eight points, came off the bench and went 3-for-4 from behind the arc to finish with 18 points and grabbed six rebounds. She ate up the minutes that were made available by leading scorer Alley Fisher who missed the game because of an illness.

Fellow freshman Walsh and senior Erika Jossart both finished with 12 points. Walsh was 3-for-6 from 3-point range and Jossart was 2-for-4 from long range as the Cobbers knocked down a season-high eight shots from outside the arc. Walsh also had five rebounds while Jossart added four rebounds and three assists.

Both teams shot in the mid 30-percent from the field and low 40-percent from 3-point range. The shooting difference came at the free throw line where Concordia went 13-for-19 (68.4%) while the Cardinals connected on nine more foul shots and were 22-for-29 (75.9%).

The Cobbers had five more rebounds (48-43) in the game but had four more turnovers (14-10) than SMU.

Concordia will look to start another winning streak when they play at Augsburg on Monday, Feb. 3 at 5:45 p.m.