Seniors Celebrate In Style
Concordia put up a season-high 86 points in their Senior Day win over Macalester.
MOORHEAD, Minn. (2/20/15) --- Concordia shot 62.9% in the first half and jumped out to a 25-point halftime lead as they bettered Macalester 86-47 on the annual Senior Celebration Day.
The Cobbers led wire-to-wire as they came away with a season-high 86 points and beat the Scots for the eighth straight time.
CC went 22-of-35 from the floor and a perfect 4-for-4 from 3-point land in the opening half to build a 52-27 break at recess.
With the win Concordia closes out the regular season with a 17-8 overall record and a 13-5 MIAC mark. The Scots finish 2015-16 with a mirror-image record of the Cobbers with an 8-17 overall mark and a 3-15 win-loss total in conference games.
CC got ahead 9-2 early in the first quarter thanks to a pair of inside hoops from Jenna Januschka and a step-back triple from Greta Walsh.
Januschka and Olivia Johnson combined for the last seven points of the quarter and the Cobbs led 23-13.
Cassidy Rahman and Hannah Jeske got loose for layups to keep the lead at 10 points in the early part of the second quarter and then Concordia busted it wide open.
The Cobbers closed the half on a 25-10 run that featured 14 points from Walsh over the 7:14 span.
Walsh led all scorers with 17 at the intermission.
Concordia was cold from the field to start the third quarter. Neither team could find the basket in the first 4:30 of the third quarter. There was only one made basket in the first half of the third period before Crystal Amundson knocked down jumpers from both sides of the basket to end the drought.
CC did not put up any points for a couple minutes after the Amundson buckets but then scored eight points in a hurry off of a Januschka triple and layup, followed by another deep ball from Katie Rosenfeldt that made it 66-37 heading to the last 10 minutes.
Jeske connected from downtown to put the Cobbs over the 70-point barrier as they went on to win 86-74.
Concordia cooled down from the field in the second half and finished by shooting 53.0% from the field (35-of-66) while MAC shot a crisp 28.8% (15-of-52) from the floor.
CC owned the glass, outrebounding the Scots 48-28 and outscored MAC's bench 33-12. The plus-20 rebound margin is the second most of the season.
Four Cobbers scored in double figures as Walsh (17), Januschka (16), Johnson (12) and Amundson (10) all had 10 or more points.
Januschka added 11 rebounds for her team-high sixth double-double of the season.
THANK YOU SENIORS
The three Cobber seniors, Katie Rosenfeldt, Hannah Jeske and Olivia Johnson played the last regular-season game of their careers in Memorial Auditorium and it was a fitting ending. The three have a career-record of 74-34 as Cobbers and went 39-11 in their careers at Memorial.
JUNIOR STARS
Though three talented seniors are graduating, head coach Jessica Rahman returns three talented juniors in Jenna Januschka, Greta Walsh and Crystal Amundson. Each scored in double figures against Macaleser on Saturday.
KEEP SHOOTING JJ
Jenna Januschka connected on her only 3-point attempt on Saturday. Statistics show she should have shot a couple more. The junior is shooting 50% (13-of-26) from distance on the season, and 10-of-16 (62.5%) from deep in Memorial Auditorium. With her 16-point output she has scored in double figures in 21-of-25 games.
SHE SCOOPS LIKE IT'S HER JOB
Greta Walsh pumped in 17 points in the first half that featured three scoop layups. Walsh, in the midst of her most consistent season, is now averaging 13.4 points per game and has scored 10 points or more in 19 contests this season.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Concordia will enter postseason play as the No. 4 seed and will host No. 5 seed Bethel in the MIAC quarterfinals on Tuesday, February 23 at 7 p.m. The Cobbers swept the season series against the Royals. BU is coming off of back-to-back wins and has won six of their last seven. The lone loss in that stretch is a 69-67 overtime loss to conference champion St. Thomas.
