A Doughnut In The 2018 Opener
Concordia outscored St. Benedict in the outside two quarters but came up with an empty hole in the middle two periods and lost to league-leading St. Benedict.
MOORHEAD, Minn. (1/03/18)---Concordia played a "doughnut" game in their first conference contest of the New Year. The Cobbers were solid and tasty in the outside two quarters but were left with an empty filling in the middle two periods and lost 66-47 to league-leading St. Benedict.
Concordia outscored the Blazers 35-30 in the first and fourth quarters combined but were outscored 36-12 in the second and third periods and lost for the third straight game.
The Cobbers are now 5-6 in all games on the year and fall to the .500 mark in conference play at 2-2. St. Benedict wins for the sixth straight game and moves to 11-1 overall and 5-0 in the MIAC.
Concordia never trailed in the first quarter as they bolted to a 5-0 lead and then kept the Blazers from getting closer than three points in the final five minutes of the period. Concordia shot 71.4% (5-for-7) from the floor and 60.0% (3-for-5) from outside the arc in the first 10 minutes of play and held CSB without a made basket from 3-point range.
The game changed from the very start of the second quarter. St. Benedict scored the first nine points in the period to take a four-point lead at 20-16. The Cobbers then went cold at the end of the half and watched as CSB went on a 6-0 run in the final four minutes to take a seven-point lead at 26-19 into the break.
The third quarter would be more of the same for the Cobbers as they scored four points in the first 3:53 of the period and watched the deficit grow to 11 points. The end of the quarter put the game on ice. CC trailed by only eight points after a 3-0 run made it 34-26 but then the Blazers finished off the period on a 13-2 stretch to push the lead to 19 points.
The fourth quarter was an even affair with both teams scoring 19 points and making six field goals.
Concordia shot 30.6% (15-for-49) from the floor and 33.3% (5-for-15) from 3-point range. St. Benedict put up 15 more field goal attempts and shot 42.2% (27-for-64) from the field and 33.3% (7-for-21) from long distance.
The Cobbers outrebounded the Blazers 41-36 but CSB held a 30-12 edge in points in the paint.
Both teams only had one player score in double figures for the game. Junior guard Jamie Mentzer led Concordia with 10 points.
Kirstin Simmons grabbed eight rebounds and scored five points while Cassidy Rahman collected seven rebounds and Aleya Parker notched seven points.
WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will look to get back on the winning track when they travel to St. Peter to take on Gustavus on Saturday, Jan. 6. The Gusties are 10-2/4-1 MIAC and are coming off a 72-48 win at Carleton on Wednesday.