An Icy End To November

ST. PETER, Minn. (11/30/16)---Concordia will be excited for the calendar to turn over to a new month as the Cobbers were outscored 23-9 in the first quarter and lost 88-52 at Gustavus in the conference opener for both teams.

The loss is the second straight against an unbeaten team to end the month of November. Concordia is now 3-4 overall. Gustavus remains perfect on the year and moves to 6-0 on the year.

The first period of each half was colder than an icy November snow storm for the Cobbers. Concordia fell behind 16-3 in the first 5:33 of play. During that stretch CC went 1-for-5 and had six turnovers. The Cobbers trailed by 14 after the first 10 minutes of play and were 4-for-13 from the floor and had seven miscues.

Concordia looked to right the ship in the second quarter when they outscored the Gusties 22-12 and cut the lead to four points at the half. CC opened the quarter by giving up four of the first six points but then went on a 13-4 run by 5-for-7 including 3-for-3 from outside the arc. The Cobbers finished off the half on a 7-2 run in the final 2:50. 

The third quarter blew in hard and unforgiving for Concordia.  The Cobbers had eight turnovers and watched as Gustavus went 5-for-6 from 3-point range and 11-for-16 from the floor. GAC went on a 18-2 streak to turn a four-point game at 37-33 into a 20-point advantage with just over 2-minutes left in the period.

Concordia shot 37.8% (17-for-45) from the floor and 40.0% (6-for-15) from outside the arc but those numbers fell short in comparison to Gustavus who connected on 52.6% (30-for-57) of their shots from the field and made nine 3-pointers in the game.

The Cobbers fell into trouble at the hands of Gustavus' pressure defense. Concordia had a season-high 27 turnovers. The Gusties only had 11 miscues in the game. The discrepancy in offensive errors led to a 37-4 advantage in points off of turnovers.

Gustavus also controlled the area around the basket, outscoring the Cobbers 42-8 in points in the paint.

Concordia had three players score 38 of the 52 points. Seniors Jenna Januschka and Greta Walsh went for 17 and 12 points. Lincoln Haiby came off the bench to score nine points and went 3-for-4 from outside the arc. Freshman Shelby Duckstad led Concordia with four rebounds.

WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will be hoping for a warming trend to the start of December when they travel south to Winona to take on St. Mary's on Saturday, Dec. 3 at 1 p.m. The Cardinals are 5-1 and beat Carleton in overtime in their MIAC opener on Wednesday.