It's Good To Be Home

MOORHEAD, Minn. (12/07/16)—Concordia used the friendly confines of Memorial Auditorium to snap a four-game losing skid and earn their first conference victory of the season.

The Cobbers returned home for the first time since Nov. 22 and outscored St. Catherine 85-78. Concordia used their familiarity with the shooting site lines and friendly rims to post a season-high point total and put up season highs in field goal and 3-point field goal percentage.

The win brings Concordia's overall record to 4-6 on the year while CC is now 1-2 in the MIAC. The Wildcats are also 1-2 in league play and drop to 5-3 in all games.

Senior guard Greta Walsh was extremely happy to be back at home. She went 10-for-18 from the floor 4-for-5 from outside the arc and finished with a career-high 28 points. At one point in the second quarter she scored eight straight points for the Cobbers and helped open up an 11-point lead at 33-22 with 4:17 to play in the half.

While Walsh had the hot hand from the floor, sophomore Lincoln Haiby was on fire. Haiby went 5-for-6 from the field, 3-for-3 from long range and was 4-for-5 from the free throw line including hitting a pair of clutch foul shots that put the game on ice for CC late in the fourth quarter after St. Catherine had cut the lead to four points.

Haiby finished the game with a career-high 17 points.

The biggest drama of the game came late in the fourth quarter. Concordia steadily built a double-digit lead in the first two quarters and led 38-30 at the break.

The Cobbers reestablished their double-digit margin at the midway point of the third quarter and held on to it for the majority of time until the 4:12 mark of the final period. Leading by 15 at 75-50, Concordia watched as the Wildcats reeled off nine straight points to cut the lead to six points at 75-69 with 2:36 to play.

Just before Haiby's two insurance free throws the Wildcats cut the lead to four points after Walsh had fouled out at the 1:50 mark.

Sliding to the edges of their seat the Cobber crowd watched as St. Catherine continued to press Concordia and wound up cutting the lead to three points at 81-78 with 56-seconds to play.

A Cobber turnover gave St. Catherine a chance to tie the game with a 3-pointer but their long range shot missed the mark and sophomore Grace Wolhowe grabbed the rebound and was fouled in the process. Wolhowe then stepped to the free throw line and calmly sank both foul shots to push the lead to five points. Another missed 3-pointer by SCU and two more made free throws by Wolhowe brough the final tally to 85-78.

In addition to the career-high point totals from Walsh and Haiby, the Cobbers also got 10 points from Wolhowe who was a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line. Wolhowe also had compiled seven rebounds.

Senior Crystal Amundson gathered a game-high eight rebounds Jenna Januschka had a triple four game. She finished with four points, four rebounds and a game-high four assists.

THE MOORHEAD PLAYERS: Concordia was on "Fire" all night long in Memorial Auditorium. The Cobbers shot a season-high 52.9% (27-for-51) from the floor and a season-high 61.1% (11-for-18) from 3-point range. The 61.1% shooting from outside the arc is the best since the end of last year when they made 72.7% (8-for-11) of their attempts from long range. The 11 made 3-pointers is the most since they canned 11 against Gustavus at home on Feb. 6 of last season.

WALSH WAYS: Greta Walsh's 28 points were four more than her previous career high of 24 points which came in the home opener against Jamestown. Walsh is now averaging 22.3 points in the team's three home games this year. Walsh has now scored 20 or more points in six games in her career and five have come in Memorial Auditorium.  

MAGIC NO. 58: Concordia has scored over 58 points on four occasions this season and is 4-0 when they reach that mark. The Cobbers are 0-6 when they score under 58 points in a game.

WHAT'S NEXT: The Cobbers will hope to continue their hot shooting ways inside Memorial Auditorium when they host St. Olaf on Saturday, Dec. 10 at 1 p.m. The Oles are 2-6 on the year and are coming off a 79-61 loss at league-leading Gustavus on Wednesday.   

CONCORDIA vs. ST. CATHERINE HIGHLIGHTS: