Second Half Reversal Of Fortune

MOORHEAD, Minn. (2/26/26)---On Tuesday, St. Mary's overcame a 20-point deficit in the second half and beat Hamline in the quarterfinals of the MIAC tournament. On Thursday, No.19-ranked Concordia said, "hold our water bottles".

The Cobbers did the Cardinals one point better as they rallied from a 21-point, second half deficit and came away with a 71-62 win.

Concordia outscored St. Mary's 50-25 in the second half to earn a spot in the conference tournament championship game on Saturday. The 50 points scored in the decisive final 0 minutes of play were the second highest in a single half for CC this season.  

The win not only pushed Concordia to its third championship game appearance in the last four seasons, but was also the team's 23rd win of the season which is the most since 1990.

The Cobbers are now 23-3 on the year.

Everything that could go wrong for Concordia in the first half went right in the second half. The Cobbers scored only 21 points in the first 20 minutes of play, shot 14.3% (1-for-7) from outside the arc and committed 12 turnovers which the Cardinals gladly turned into a 16-5 advantage in points off of miscues. To make matters worse, the usually reliable CC inside game was outscored 26-14 in points in the paint.

That all changed when the Cobbers switched ends and started shooting towards the highly charged student section.

St. Mary's (20-8) led 37-21 at the half and upped the lead to 19 points when they connected on a 3-point field goal in the very first possession of the third quarter. Concordia turned the ball over in its first possession of the second half and when SMU got inside for a layup the lead ballooned to 21 points.

The teams would trade baskets and that's when Miss Momentum decided to sit down on the Cobber bench. Led by senior Maya Metcalf and the energetic play of first-year guard Kaitlyn Rohloff, Concordia outscored the Cardinals 18-2 over the final 5:50 of the third quarter and only trailed by five heading into the final period.

The Cobbers scored eight of the first 11 points of the fourth quarter and suddenly the score was tied at 53-53. The comeback went into fifth gear after St. Mary's connected on a 3-pointer to take a 58-56 lead with 4:57 to play. CC then rattled off the next eight points to grab a 6-point lead with 2:53 on the clock.

Metcalf, Rohloff and Maci Wheeldon proceeded to seal the semifinal win by making seven of their eight free throws in the final 2:14 of play.

The Cobbers shot 75.0% (18-for-24) from the floor, 50.0% (3-for-6) from distance and 78.6% (11-for-14) from the foul line in the second half of play.  

Rally complete. Game over. Roles reversed.

Metcalf finished with a game-high 29 points, 20 of which came in the second half. Her 29 points are the most by a Cobber in an MIAC playoff game in program history.

Rohloff provided a huge spark and added 12 points, two assists and a career-high two blocks.

Taylor Safranski led Concordia in rebounds. She collected five boards and also had a team-high five assists.

The Cobbers will face Bethel in the MIAC title game on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 3 p.m. The Royals advanced to the title game with a quarterfinal win over St. Scholastica and a semifinal victory at Gustavus.       

Second Half Success: Concordia has outscored its opponents in the second half in 22 games this season. The Cobbers are 22-0 in those games.