by Colin Beltz
Sports Editor
The Concordia women's basketball team was down early to St. Olaf in the first half 12-4, but rebounded to rout the Olies 76-54 Wednesday night at Northfield.
The Cobbers have won six straight games to improve to 12-2 overall, 8-1 in the MIAC.
Both teams started the game shooting well, especially St. Olaf. The Olies scored on six of their first seven possessions to take a 12-4 lead.
The Cobbers called a time out and scored the game's next eight points to tie the game at 12 points each.
Junior Holly Zollar put the Cobbers in front 17-16 with a three-pointer, but St. Olaf answered with two points to pull ahead by a point. Rayna Heard then passed to fellow sophomore Leah Sonstelie, giving the lead back to Concordia for the rest of the game.
After regaining the lead at 19-18, the Cobbers outscored the Olies 19-9 for the rest of the half.
The Cobbers continued to build on the success they experienced late in the first half and methodically turned the game into a blowout.
Concordia won the game by a final score of 76-54. Zollar led the team with a game-high 15 points followed by Ann Mehrkens, who scored 12. Nichole Walla scored 10 points, all in the second half.
Monday night, the Cobbers traveled to Winona to play St. Mary's and won by a 77-60 margin. While the final score may not indicate it, the game was close throughout.
Concordia jumped out to a 10-2 lead four minutes into the game, but St. Mary's answered with six points of their own, cutting the lead to 13-8.
The teams traded baskets for most of the quarter as Concordia tried everything it could to shake St. Mary's off their backs. The Cobbers opened up their biggest lead of the game with under 10 minutes left in the half, when Heard made an outlet pass to Zollar, who fed Sonstelie under the basket for a lay-up and a 19-11 advantage for the Cobbers.
The teams traded baskets until the final seconds of the half when Mindy Schirm was able to break free from her defender beyond the arc and made a three-point basket giving the Cobbers a 38-32 halftime lead.
St. Mary's came out in the second half and scored the first five points to shrink the lead to 38-37. Following the time out, Nikki Swenson's three-point basket helped Concordia finally pull away from St. Mary's with a 77-60 victory.
Mehrkens led the Cobbers with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Schirm contributed 13 points, Zollar scored 12 points and Swenson added 10 points for the Cobbers.
Last Saturday afternoon, the Cobbers played Macalester and won the game 73-65 in what turned out to be a close contest.
Unlike the previous games, the Cobbers looked a bit out of sync. Both teams were hurt by turnovers, but Concordia was able to take advantage of them.
Heard caused some of those Macalester turnovers with her quickness on defense and gave the Cobbers an 18-14 lead midway through the first half.
Macalester would stay within a few points for most of the half. The Cobber took a 38-36 lead into halftime.
Early in the half, Zollar helped to diminish the impact of Mac's play with an 8-0 run. Two three-pointers and a lay-up in the span of one minute quickly gave the Cobbers a comfortable lead at 48-40. The rest of the team pitched in with six points after Zollar's hot streak to push the lead to 56-42 with about 13 minutes left in the game.
"We worked the ball around really well," said Mehrkens. We had a great team offense. Zollar had a great game, she really picked it up in the second half."
Then the Cobbers looked to relax a bit, as Macalester began to force turnovers and cut the lead down to 69-63, causing a Cobber time out.
"We might have let down a little bit," said Mehrkens. "We can't let down at all, We have to give 110 percent for the whole game. It was a great learning experience."
But Macalester would not draw any closer to the Cobbers as they made their free throws when needed and secured the 73-65 win.
"Our transition defense was a key to the win," said Cobber head coach Kathy Wall. "I told them at half court, we had to know where our person was."
Zollar finished the game with 20 points on 8-15 shooting including 3 three-pointers. She also collected seven rebounds and six assists. Schirm scored 10 points and made six assists.
Mehrkens continued her strong play with a 13-point, 12-rebound performance.
With the recent close games, the Cobbers are finding out how tough the conference is this year.
"It is really competitive," said Sonstelie. "All of the games have been close and exciting. They're a lot of fun to play."
The Cobbers have two games next week. They will host the MIAC's number two team, Bethel, at 5:30 Saturday afternoon and travel to top-ranked St. Thomas, Wednesday.
Women's Basketball, Most Recent Update
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