The Cobbers, nursing tired legs and a variety of aches and pains, went on a 13-0 run at the start of the second half, and held the Cardinals to only 20 points in the second half to beat St. Mary's for the third straight time. The victory is the Cobbers' ninth consecutive win and puts them .5 game ahead of St. Ben's for second place in the MIAC. Concordia is now 11-3 in conference play and 13-4 overall. The Cobbers finish the month of January with a 9-1 record. In the past two seasons they have posted a combined 19-2 record in the opening month of the year.
St. Mary's fails to take advantage of not having played in four days and drops their conference record to 8-5. The Cardinals are now 12-5 overall.
The senior tandem of Jamie Visness and Mandy Pearson came to Concordia's rescue for the second straight day. Visness hit a clutch 3-point shot late in the game and finished the day with a team-high 16 points, and Pearson continually gave the St. Mary's defense fits by driving the lane and dishing off to wide-open teammates. She finished the game with 10 points and 13 assists. It is her first double-double of the season.
Two other Cobber starters posted point totals in double figures. The twin post tandem of Tori Ehlert and Melanie Hageman were able to routinely get open looks from around the basket. Ehlert finished with 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Hageman also added 10 points and chipped in six rebounds.
Jamie Rattunde kept St. Mary's in the game from start to finish. She had 19 points at the break, but was limited to only one field goal in the second half and finished with a game-high 24 points. She added 11 rebounds to pick up her fifth double-double of the year. Rattunde also had a chance to tie the game at the buzzer, but her driving lay up rattled off the rim with one second remaining and Concordia was able to grab the rebound to end the game. Megan Moran came off the bench to pour in 14 points, as she went 4-of-7 from behind the arc.
Statistically, the two teams were almost even. Concordia held a 37-34 edge in rebounding and both teams committed 20 turnovers. The Cobbers shot 39.7% (25-of-63) from the floor, while the Cardinals shot 39.3% (24-of-61) from the field. The one edge Concordia held was in 3-point shooting. St. Mary's, the league's second best team in 3-point field goals made, connected on only 6-of-23 (26.1%) shots from behind the arc, while the Cobbers shot a game-saving 46.2% (6-of-13) from long range.
Concordia will have an unprecedented six days off before returning to play. Concordia will travel to Northfield to play league-leading Carleton on Saturday, February 5 at 1:00pm. The game can be heard live on 1280AM "The Fan" radio in the Fargo-Moorhead area and via the internet at www.gocobbers.com.
Newspaper Box Score St. Mary's University vs Concordia College 01/30/05 1:00 at Moorhead, MN/Memorial Auditorium At Moorhead, MN/Memorial Auditorium CONCORDIA COLLEGE 65, ST. MARY'S UNIVERSITY 63 ST. MARY'S UNIVERSITY (8-5 MIAC/12-5) Jamie Rattunde 9-15 6-7 24; Megan Moran 5-9 0-0 14; Angie Arrington 5-16 0-0 11; Ashley Luehmann 4-10 1-3 10; Ashley Fosmo 0-2 2-2 2; Selina McCarthy 1-1 0-0 2; Sarah Murphy 0-1 0-0 0; Jessica Weisbrod 0-3 0-0 0; Alissa Banttari 0-4 0-1 0. Totals 24-61 9-13 63. CONCORDIA COLLEGE (11-3 MIAC/13-4) Jamie Visness 5-9 2-2 16; Melanie Hageman 4-7 2-3 10; Tori Ehlert 4-9 2-4 10; Mandy Pearson 4-14 1-2 10; Karie Visness 4-6 0-0 9; Amanda Levos 2-8 0-0 4; Anne Keeley 1-6 2-2 4; Leanne White 1-3 0-0 2; Jessica Heintz 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-63 9-13 65. St. Mary's University......... 43 20 - 63 Concordia College............. 32 33 - 65 3-point goals-St. Mary's University 6-23 (Megan Moran 4-7; Angie Arrington 1-7; Ashley Luehmann 1-6; Sarah Murphy 0-1; Ashley Fosmo 0-1; Jamie Rattunde 0-1), Concordia College 6-13 (Jamie Visness 4-5; Karie Visness 1-2; Mandy Pearson 1-2; Amanda Levos 0-1; Anne Keeley 0-2; Tori Ehlert 0-1). Fouled out--St. Mary's University-None, Concordia College-None. Rebounds-St. Mary's University 34 (Jamie Rattunde 11), Concordia College 37 (Tori Ehlert 8). Assists-St. Mary's University 13 (Jamie Rattunde 7), Concordia College 15 (Mandy Pearson 13). Total fouls-St. Mary's University 16, Concordia College 15. A-273