mankato, minn. - two three-point attempts in the final 10 seconds by senior jamie jones (mounds view, minn.) and junior maurika hickman (minneapolis, minn.) didn't drop for #20 concordia university (13-2, 7-1 nsic) who dropped a tough one, 79-76, at minnesota state university (10-5, 5-3 nsic) on friday night at taylor center. The golden bears led by as many as 10 points in the first half but strong msu post play brought them back late in the second half. box score
concordia came out of the gates slow, with msu building an early advantage, 14-9 just over six minutes into the contest. But junior zoraa quioe (woodbury, minn.) ignited the offense, dropping in a pair of three-pointers as concordia jumped back in front with a 9-2 spurt just under the halfway point in the opening frame.
a few minutes later trailing 25-22, quioe delivered her third three-pointer of the half before she converted a layup off a steal by senior chanica hall (minneapolis, minn.) and would deliver another jumper in what amounted to be a 13-0 run to give cu their largest lead of the half, 35-25 with just over 4:30 to play in the half.
quioe's instant offense in the first half carried through the whole game as she led cu with 22 points on 8-14 shooting including 4-5 from behind the arc. She also had three assists to just one turnover while causing five steals in an impressive performance.
although minnesota state was able to whittle away at the lead, cutting it to five late, a three-pointer by hickman swished through the net with four seconds to play in the break, giving concordia a solid 41-33 halftime lead.
in the first half, quioe led concordia with 13 points on 5-9 shooting including perfect 3-3 three-point shooting and a pair of steals as she helped cu to a 15-3 edge in bench scoring.
the first half saw a lot of scoring opportunities with concordia hoisting 40 shots at a 42.5% clip and msu attempting 33 at a 39.4% rate. Both teams fired 12 three-pointers with cu hitting half and msu hitting two less (four).
the mavericks held a decisive edge in first half rebounding, 25-19. And despite a 6-4 deficit in offensive rebounds, concordia capitalized on their fewer opportunities with five second chance points holding msu to just one.
those two factors would continue throughout the night as concordia took 75 shots (32-75, 42.7%) while msu took 64 (33-64, 51.6%). Msu also controlled the glass, and the paint, with a 44-31 rebounding advantage.
in the second half, the opening eight point margin was the widest gap the rest of the way. Msu scored the first six points of the half and the rest of the way concordia wouldn't lead by more than five and msu wouldn't lead by more than six.
the mavericks' six point lead came late, too, 79-73 with 26 seconds to go as they continued to make their free throws led by tiffany moe's 7-7 conversion at the stripe. They also pounded the paint hard down the stretch as their starting posts, liz trauger and laura weber, combined for 42 points and 19 rebounds while shooting 20-28 as a tandem. Trauger had 24 points and nine boards while weber had 18 and 10. Moe finished with 19 despite 6-15 shooting while distributing nine assists, most of those to her posts.
concordia wasn't buried, though, as senior kali olstad (elgin, minn.) knocked down a triple with 13 seconds to play. Concordia forced a turnover three seconds later in msu's backcourt, taking over with the ball in scoring position.
unfortunately for concordia, hickman wasn't able to replicate her halftime buzzer beater as the mavericks were able to knock off the top team in the league.
junior jineen williams (racine, wis.) had 13 points but struggled to 6-17 shooting and 0-4 from three-point distance. Jones added 11 and four assists and hickman scored 10.
concordia's biggest down fall of the night may have been their inability to capitalize on turnovers, forcing 19 but turning those into just 13 points, leaving a handful of layups that rolled off the rim.
