Cool Hand In The Semifinals
Concordia had a reversal of fortune in the MIAC semifinals as they started the game 1-for-12 and lost 69-48 at St. Thomas.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (2/25/16)—It was a complete reversal of fortune from their quarterfinal game on Tuesday. The Cobbers struggled in the early parts of each half and lost 69-48 at No.1 seed St. Thomas.
Concordia shot 72.0% from the floor in the first half in their playoff-opening win on Tuesday but against the Tommies they started the game by going 1-for-12, fell behind 10-0 and were forced to chase the game for the final three quarters.
The loss ends the Cobbers' season with an 18-9 mark. It is the seventh time in the past eight seasons that Concordia has won at least 18 games in a year. St. Thomas wins its 13th straight game, is 23-3 for the year and advances to host St. Mary's in the conference title game.
Despite the cold start and shooting 21.4% (3-for-14) in the first quarter, Concordia clawed its way back into the game by tightening up on the defensive end and slowly finding their way on offense.
The Cobbers limited the Tommies to 23.1% (3-for-13) shooting in the second period while shooting 50.0% (7-for-14) and outscoring UST 18-9.
Concordia went on a 15-2 run starting at the 7:43 mark and took their only lead of the game on an Olivia Johnson 3-pointer at 24-23. CC led by a single point with 3:05 to play in the half but then went scoreless for the remainder of the period and trailed 27-24 at the break.
The first-quarter woes returned at the start of the second half. The Cobbers went 1-for-4 and committed three turnovers and saw the deficit return to double digits with 6:51 left in the quarter.
St. Thomas made sure there would be no repeat of the second-half Cobber comeback. The Tommies went 7-for-10 (70.0%) for the final 10 minutes of play and never let CC get closer than 12 points after the 9-minute mark.
Concordia finished the game by shooting 36.5% (19-for-52) from the floor and 27.8% (5-for-18) from outside the arc. St. Thomas made 41.5% (22-for-53) of their shots from the floor and 44.0% (11-for-25) of their attempts from outside the arc. Their plus-6 edge in 3-pointers and a 14-5 advantage in made free throws proved to be the difference.
Another edge on the stat sheet came in the turnover category where CC committed 17 miscues as compared to nine for the Tommies. UST turned that plus-8 margin into a 22-7 advantage in points off of turnovers.
Jenna Januschka and Johnson were the only two players with more than eight points in the game. Januschka came away with a 18 points and grabbed five rebounds. She was 6-for-7 from the floor, 2-for-2 from 3-point range and 4-for-4 from the free throw line. Johnson had a team-high nine rebounds to go along with 10 points.