A Great Senior Day Battle
Concordia took undefeated St. Thomas all the way to the wire in the annual Senior Day game.
MOORHEAD, Minn. (2/18/17)---Concordia pushed and pushed and took undefeated, and No.2-ranked, St. Thomas all the way to the wire before falling 70-61.
The Cobbers were tied with the MIAC champions after one quarter and led by one at halftime. The upset alert was in full flashing mode until midway through the fourth quarter. UST was clinging to a two-point lead at 57-55 when they went on an 11-0 run to seal their 25th win of the year.
Concordia finished the season with an 8-17 overall mark and a 5-13 record in conference play. St. Thomas improves to 25-0 in all games and 18-0 in the MIAC.
Concordia scored a season-high 41 points in the first half to lead St. Thomas 41-40. The Cobbers shot 57.1% (16-for-28) from the floor and 44.4% (4-for-9) from outside the arc as they went toe-to-toe with the Tommies and led for most of the opening period and then the final three minutes of the second quarter.
The Cobbers finished shooting 42.1% (24-for-57) from the floor and 23.5% (4-for-17) from outside the arc. CC failed to connect on a 3-point shot in the final two periods of play. The Tommies were equally cold from long range in the final 20 minutes of play. They went 1-for-8 (12.5%) from outside the arc in the second half of play. UST finished the game by shooting 44.4% (24-for-54) from the floor and a conference-low 19.0% (4-for-21) from 3-point range.
The difference in the game came from the Tommies' ability to get to the free throw line. St. Thomas went 18-for-23 (78.3%) from the foul line while Concordia was 9-for-13 (69.2%).
Concordia held the league's leading rebound team to under their season average and the Cobbers nearly outrebounded the Tommies. UST held a scant 37-34 edge in rebounds.
The senior duo of Greta Walsh and Jenna Januschka combined for 36 of the team's 61 points. Walsh put up 19 points in her final game in maroon and gold while Januschka added 17 and also had a team-high six rebounds.
Cassidy Rahman and Kirstin Simmons also grabbed six rebounds. Rahman also scored six points.
THE END: Greta Walsh had a career year in her senior season. She led the team in scoring with a 16.0 point per game average. She finished her career by averaging 11.3 ppg and had a 34.4% shooting percentage from outside the arc. She had a career-high 401 points this year and finished with 1,179 points which is No.15 on the school's all-time list.
THE END 2: Jenna Januschka put up her second straight double-digit scoring average in 2017. She finished the year second in scoring with an 11.2 ppg average. She finished her four years by shooting 50.0% from the field and grabbed 461 rebounds.