Playoff Primer: Cobbers Host Royals In MIAC Championship

MOORHEAD, Minn. (2/27/26)— No.1 seed Concordia hosts No.3 seed Bethel in the championship of the MIAC playoffs on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 3 p.m. The Cobbers advanced to the title game with a comeback win over St. Mary's on Thursday and will be playing in their third championship game in the last four seasons.

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 Championship

WHEN: Saturday, Feb. 28 at 3 p.m.

WHERE: Memorial Auditorium – Moorhead, Minn.

TEAMS: No.3 Seed Bethel (21-6/14-4 MIAC) at No.1 Seed Concordia (23-3/16-2 MIAC)

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

HOW THEY GOT HERE: Concordia overcame a 21-point deficit in the second half and rallied to beat St. Mary's in the semifinals of the conference playoffs on Thursday. CC trailed the Cardinals 37-21 at the half but then outscored SMU 50-25 in the final 20 minute of play to earn a 71-62 win. The Cobbers 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.

Bethel has taken the long road in the postseason to get to the championship game. They blew past St. Scholastica 87-57 in the quarterfinals on Tuesday and then outlasted Gustavus 73-66 in the semifinals in St. Peter on Thursday. The Royals trailed the Gusties 28-26 at the break but then held GAC to only nine points in the third quarter and then scored 23 points in the fourth period to earn their second consecutive trip to the league title game. Bethel finished off the regular season on a 4-game win streak. They started the conference with a 6-1 mark and then went 5-3 in the middle of January before getting hot in February.         

RECORDS VS. OTHER PLAYOFF TEAMS: Concordia went 5-2 against the other five MIAC playoff teams in the regular season. 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 Royals went 3-4 against the other five league playoff teams in the regular season. Bethel lost single-game series to Gustavus and Hamline. They split their 2-game series with St. Mary's and St. Scholastica and came away with a win in the only game played against the Cobbers.          

HOME AND AWAY: Concordia is 13-1 at home this season in all games and went 9-0 in conference play. The Cobbers are 44-6 in Memorial Auditorium in the past four seasons. Bethel is 11-5 on the road this year and posted a 6-3 mark in league 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 second conference championship game in program history. CC is 16-17 all-time in the MIAC playoffs. The only other time they hosted the title game they 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 13-4 at home in the MIAC postseason. 

Bethel is making its 12th consecutive trip to the conference postseason and 16th overall appearance in the MIAC playoffs. The Royals are 11-14 all-time in league postseason games and 2-11 on the road. Bethel had lost nine straight road contests before their win at Gustavus on Thursday. Their only other away win in the league postseason also came in St Peter. That occurred in 2009 when they were the No.5 seed and beat the Gusties 75-59. BU has played in three championship games and are 1-2 in those contests with their only title coming in 2020.                   

PLAYOFF HEAD-TO-HEAD: This will be the third time that the two teams have faced each other in the MIAC playoffs and first since 2016. The other two match-ups were also played in Moorhead with Concordia prevailing in both games. The first time they squared off was in 2012 in the quarterfinals. CC was the No.3 seed and beat the No.6 Royals 55-50. The key in that game was the Cobbers' ability to make free throws as they went 13-for-13 from the foul line. The second playoff meeting came in 2016 and also happened in the quarterfinals. The Cobbers were the No.4 seed and outscored Bethel 85-76. CC shot 72.0% from the floor to get the victory.                        

| 2016 MIAC Quarterfinal Recap/Box Score |
            

| 2012 MIAC Quarterfinal Recap/Box Score |
   

REGULAR SEASON MATCH-UP: Concordia and Bethel will be facing each other for the third time this season. The Royals won both games during the year with only the second victory counting in the league standings.

The first game was played in November in Moorhead and was a non-conference tilt. Neither team had more than a 9-point lead in the opener in a game that featured five lead changes and seven tie scores. The game was decided in the final 6:00 minutes of play. The Cobbers and Royals were tied 42-42 with 6:05 to play in the fourth quarter and then BU closed out the game on a 10-2 run to take the low scoring 52-44 victory. Maya Metcalf had 10 points and seven rebounds for CC while Emily Erickson led BU with 18 points and seven boards.

| Game 1: Recap/Box Score: Bethel 52 at Concordia 44 | Non-Conference
 
The return leg was played in Arden Hills on Jan. 24 and was the game that counted in the league standings. That contest featured 11 lead changes and eight tie scores and was won around the basket. Bethel held a 32-16 advantage in points in the paint and made four more field goals than Concordia. Metcalf and Erickson were the two offensive forces again. Metcalf had 21 points and 14 rebounds while Erickson went for 23 and five.                               

| Game 2 Recap/Box Score: Concordia 53 at Bethel 59 |


| Concordia/Bethel Series History | 


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.

Junior Emily Erickson is the offensive catalyst for Bethel. She was second in the MIAC in scoring in league games.  She averaged 18.5 points per game in 18 league games and scored in double figures in 17 of the 18 conference contests. Erickson also drove the bus in the two playoff wins this year. She dropped 25 on St. Scholastica and then put up 27 in the semifinal win at Gustavus. Erickson also tied for the MIAC lead in field goal percentage (53.3) and was 18th in the MIAC in rebounding (5.2 rpg). Senior Alli Born led the team in rebounds and was eighth in the league in that stat category. She averaged 6.9 boards per game. Colette Duininck captains the offense. She was second in the league in assists per game (4.6) and fourth in assists-to-turnover ratio (1.5).