Fourth-Quarter Flurry Finishes Wildcats

MOORHEAD, Minn. (1/20/15) --- Concordia hit five 3-pointers and outscored St. Kate's 26-9 in the fourth quarter to pull away late and win 67-49 at Memorial Auditorium on Wednesday night. 

Concordia only managed to shoot 34.6% (9-of-26) from the floor in the first half, but heated up after the half, shooting 59.3% (16-of-27) from the field. 

St. Kate's was just the opposite. The Wildcats shot 47.8% (11-of-23) in the first half but the lid did not come off the rim in the second half. They were limited to 17.9% shooting of 5-of-28 shooting. 

CC controlled the boards by outrebounding St. Kate's 48-20, the largest margin (+28) on the glass this season. 

The Cobbers have now won two straight and are tied for third in the MIAC with Bethel, as they sit at 6-3 in conference play and 10-6 overall. The Wildcats drop to sub-.500 with a 7-8 overall mark and a 2-7 MIAC record. 

Concordia found themselves down 16-15 after the first quarter but went on a 7-2 run to start the second quarter. St. Kate's used a 5-0 run to end the quarter to take a 28-27 lead at the intermission.

CC trailed early in the second quarter but regained the lead two minutes in and led the rest of the way. 

Jenna Januschka came alive in the third quarter. She only had seven points in the first half, but scored eight points in the third alone, including the first four of the quarter which helped push CC ahead 33-31 at the 5:41 mark. 

Concordia built their lead to eight points at 41-33 with 2:16 to play in the third quarter after Olivia Johnson knocked down an elbow jumper to cap a 14-5 run in the first eight minutes of the quarter. 

Katie Rosenfeldt hit a jumper in the lane for the Cobbers' last basket of the half to take a 43-38 lead into the fourth quarter. 

After the back-and-forth affair, Concordia pushed the pedal all the way to the floor. Hannah Jeske peeled out for a layup in transition followed by Greta Walsh connecting from distance. 

Jeske scored again on the next possession and then Johnson hit a fall away 3-pointer as the shot clock expired to make it 54-42. 

Rosenfeldt scored on back-to-back possessions, drilling a corner trey then scoring in the lane. 

Januschka brought the crowd to their feet one last time with a long ball from the top of the key that gave her 20 points for the game. Rosenfeldt would hit another trifecta and Jeske scored again to finish off scoring for CC. 

Four players scored in double figures for the Cobbers, as Januschka led the way by pouring in 20 points to pace the Cobbers. It is the third time she has scored 20 or more points in a game this season and has now scored in double figures in 13 of 15 contests. 

She also recorded 10 rebounds for her third career double-double. 

Jeske put together a stat-line that would make fantasy owners ogle. She tallied a career-high 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting, along with five boards, three steals and a pair of dimes. 

Rosenfeldt also had a career-night, recording 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field and 3-of-5 from downtown. She also chipped in six boards, two assists and a steal. 

Johnson was a force to be reckoned with on the glass, ripping down eight rebounds while adding 11 points. 

REBOUND QUEEN
Fresh off recording her 500th career board, Olivia Johnson managed to haul down another eight rebounds.  She is currently fifth in the MIAC averaging 8.3 rebounds per contest and is second in defensive rebounds per game averaging 6.7 a contest. She heads the third best rebounding team in the conference, as the Cobbers average 40.4 boards per game. 

JUST ANOTHER JANUSCHKA
Jenna Januschka now stands at seventh in the conference in scoring per game. She is averaging 14.9 points per game and is also tied for sixth in the league in field goal percentage, shooting 48.6% from the field. Januschka gets to the free throw line often, evidenced by Wednesday night. She made 5-of-8 from the charity stripe, and is seventh in the MIAC with a percentage of 77.6% from the line.

FOURTH-QUARTER FLURRY
Concordia has posted big numbers in the fourth quarter this season. The Cobbers scored 26 points in the fourth quarter against the Wildcats which is the second highest total in a single period this season. The Cobbers scored 27 points in their win at UC-Santa earlier in the season and that was also put up in the fourth quarter. Their third highest point total in a single quarter is 25 which also came in the fourth quarter in the season opener against Wis.-Superior. CC is outscoring its opponents 276-231 in the fourth quarter of games this season. It is their highest point total of any quarter and the plus-45 points are also the widest margin of any quarter.

WHAT'S NEXT?
The Cobbers will return to action on Saturday, January 23 at 3 p.m. when they host  Bethel in a huge conference tilt. Concordia and the Royals share identical 10-6 overall records and are tied for third in the MIAC with 6-3 marks. Bethel is coming off an 87-31 win over Carleton and will look to even the score with the Cobbers who nipped them 62-55 at home back on December 5.