Playoff Primer: Cobbers Host Cardinals In MIAC Semifinals

MOORHEAD, Minn. (2/23/26)— No.1 seed Concordia hosts No.4 seed St. Mary's in the semifinals of the MIAC playoffs on Thursday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. in Memorial Auditorium. The Cobbers earned their fifth straight conference playoff appearance, and 20th in program history, by winning the MIAC regular season championship with a 16-2 record in league play.

TICKET INFORMATION: The first 50 Cobber students with ID will be admitted free of charge. Ticket prices for all others are $13 for adults and $3 for any students (5 years old and younger are free). There is no senior discount. MIAC passes will be honored. No other passes will be accepted. Fans can purchase ticked by clicking on the link below.

MIAC Playoff Ticket Site (Hometown Ticketing)

WHAT: MIAC Women's Basketball Semifinals

WHEN: Thursday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m.

WHERE: Memorial Auditorium – Moorhead, Minn.

TEAMS: No.4 Seed St. Mary's (20-6/13-5 MIAC) at No.1 Seed Concordia (22-3/16-2 MIAC)

LIVE LINKS:  Live Video (PPV$) | Live Stats

HOW THEY GOT HERE: Concordia only lost two games in league play on their way to claiming the program's seventh MIAC regular season championship and first since 2013. The Cobbers won eight straight to close out the regular season and also had win streaks of four and three games during the year. Concordia's only two losses in conference play came on the road in a 2-week stretch of play in January.

St. Mary's started conference play by winning its first five games and seven of the first eight. They ran into a stretch where they dropped two of three toward the end of January and then rattled off six straight victories before dropping their final two games in the regular season.  

RECORDS VS. OTHER PLAYOFF TEAMS: Concordia went 5-2 against the other five MIAC playoff teams. The Cobbers swept No.2 seed Gustavus and St. Scholastica and beat Hamline in their only meeting of the season. The two losses came in single games against Bethel and St. Mary's. The Cardinals were 5-3 vs. teams that made the conference postseason. They split their series with Gustavus, Bethel and Hamline and beat the Cobbers and St. Scholastica in single games during the year.        

HOME AND AWAY: Concordia was 12-1 at home this season in all games and 9-0 in conference play. The Cobbers are 43-6 in Memorial Auditorium in the past four seasons. St. Mary's went 6-4 on the road this year and 4-4 in league play. The Cardinals are 13-12 on the road in the past two seasons of play.           

PLAYOFF PEDIGREE: Concordia is making its 20th overall MIAC playoff appearance. They are one of only three schools to have made the conference postseason at least 20 times since the league went to a tournament in 2001. The Cobbers are hosting their third conference semifinal in the past four seasons. CC is 15-17 all-time in the MIAC playoffs. The only other time they were the No.1 seed (2013), the Cobbers beat St. Benedict in the semifinals and dropped a 58-50 decision against St. Thomas. The Cobbers have won the MIAC playoff tournament on two occasions (2006, 2011) and have played in the title game six times. Concordia is 12-4 at home in the MIAC postseason and 7-6 in semifinal games.

St. Mary's is making its 15th appearance in the MIAC postseason. It is also the second straight year for the Cardinals to earn a playoff berth. Last year SMU was the No.6 seed and lost to Hamline in the quarterfinals. St. Mary's is 7-14 all-time in the league postseason and 1-12 on the road with their lone win coming in 2012. This will be St. Mary's first appearance in the semifinals since 2018 when upset Bethel in the quarterfinals and lost at St. Thomas. The Cardinals have never won the conference tournament. They have made the finals in two seasons which came in 2016 and 2014 where they lost both games to St. Thomas.     

PLAYOFF HEAD-TO-HEAD: This will be the second time the two teams have squared off in the postseason. The only other meeting between CC and SMU came in the quarterfinals of the 2004 tournament. The Cobbers were the No.4 seed in that season and hosted No.5 St. Mary's. Concordia was able to come away with a 73-65 victory and went on to play in the MIAC title game. In the quarterfinal match-up, the Cobbers outscored the Cardinals 25-16 in the final 10 minutes of play to earn the victory. Mandy Pearson, who went on to be the head coach at St. Mary's, had 12 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for the Cobbers.                

| 2004 MIAC Quarterfinal Recap/Box Score |
   

REGULAR SEASON MATCH-UP: St. Mary's used a strong second half to beat Concordia in Winona in the only match-up between the teams in the regular season. The Cardinals held a 22-21 lead at the halftime break and then used a 6-0 run at the start of the third quarter and an 8-0 streak at the beginning of the fourth period to grab the victory. The 51 points scored by CC was the second lowest of the season. The Cobbers shot only 20.0% from 3-point range in the game which featured a combined 19 total free throws, 10 made foul attempts and 26 total fouls. 

| Regular Season Recap/Box Score: Concordia 51 at St. Mary's |


STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: How each team ranks in the MIAC for conference games only.

STAT STARS: Maya Metcalf is the stat leader for the Cobbers. She was third in the MIAC in scoring, tied for fourth in rebounding, seventh in field goal percentage and second in blocks in conference games. Metcalf averaged 17.8 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game   and shot 48.0% from the field. She scored in double digits in 16 of the 18 league games and posted 20 or more points on six occasions. Senior Molly Musland gives Concordia a 2-person scoring threat. She averaged 10.0 points per game in MIAC play and was 11th in field goal percentage at 45.7%. The Cobbers had two players in the Top 15 of the league in assists. Taylor Safranski was third with a 3.6 assists per game average and Taya Jeffrey was 11th at 2.5.

St. Mary's has two dominant players in their attack. First-year forward Ayla Olson and sophomore guard Brianna Nusbaum are both in the Top 10 in the league in scoring. Olson led SMU with a 17.1 ppg average in the 18 conference contests, while Nusbaum averaged 14.0 points per game and was eighth on the MIAC list. Ayla's older sister Kali Olson is the inside presence for the Cardinals. She was second in the conference in rebounding (8.8 rpg) and tied for sixth in blocked shots (1.0 bpg).