A Sweet Second-Half Season Sweep

MOORHEAD, Minn. (2/15/14)—Concordia moved one step closer to securing one of the top two seeds in the MIAC playoffs as they pulled off another magical second-half comeback. The Cobbers rallied from a seven-point second-half deficit to beat No.16-ranked St. Thomas 60-57 and claim a season sweep over the Tommies.

Both the Cobbers' wins over St. Thomas in the regular season came after CC was trailing at halftime.

Concordia is now tied with St. Thomas for second place in the MIAC standings with two games remaining in the regular season. Both teams have identical 17-3 conference records however, if the teams tie, CC would hold the head-to-head tiebreaker by virtue of their regular-season sweep. The Cobbers and Tommies are also 19-4 in all games as well this season.

The win was the fifth straight for Concordia and seventh in the past 13 games when they have trailed at the break. The Cobbers have made a regular occurrence of wearing down their opponents in the final 20 minutes of play and have outscored foes in the second half in all but four games this year. CC is now 17-2 when they outscore teams in the second period of play.

The game against the Tommies on Saturday turned into one of scoring runs and who would be the last team to come up with the last streak. In the end, Concordia halted St, Thomas' final run before they could tie the game in the final seconds.

The Cobbers went on a 13-4 streak to take a 10-point lead at 56-46 with just under five minutes to play in the second half. St. Thomas then geared up for one final string of points and cut the lead to a single point at 58-57 after responding with an 11-2 run. Junior guard Alley Fisher was then able to knife through the Tommie defense for a layup with 1:20 to play to put the Cobbers up by three at 60-57.

St. Thomas would then have cracks at coming up with the game-tying field goal in the final 1:04 of play but each time the Cobber defense stiffened and refused to give up the lead. A final missed jumper was corralled by sophomore Olivia Johnson and then the Cobbers were able to inbounds the ball to run out the last two seconds on the clock.

The most glaring statistical advantage came from behind the arc where the Cobbers went 7-for-16 while the Tommies failed to connect on a 3-point field goal all game long. UST was 0-for-12 from long range including missing on all seven attempts in the second half. It is the first time all season that St. Thomas hasn't hit on a 3-point basket.

Concordia hit on a trio of clutch 3-point field goals in their game-grabbing 13-4 run midway through the second half.

The Cobbers wound up shooting 45.7% (21-for-46) from the floor and 43.8% (7-for-16) from outside the arc for the game.

Both teams were proficient at the free throw line with CC making 11-of-1 attempts as opposed to 15-for-19 for UST.

Fisher led all scorers with 19 points. She was 3-for-4 from behind the arc for the game. Concordia is now 15-0 when she scores in double figures this season. Freshman Greta Walsh was one of the main sparks for CC in the second half. She scored all of her 11 points in the final 20 minutes of play and knocked down a pair of huge long-range shots. Alexandra Lippert had a game-high seven rebounds to go along with four points and one block. Johnson added eight points and four rebounds.

The Cobbers will now host their annual Senior Celebration game in the final regular-season home game on Wednesday, Feb. 19 at 7;30 p.m. against St. Benedict.