FARGO — The Concordia Cobbers created a seismic shift in momentum in the third quarter Monday night at Memorial Auditorium.
The Cobbers shot 63% from the field in the first 10 minutes after halftime, erased a 15-point deficit and used that steam to fuel a 67-56 victory against St. Benedict in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women's basketball.
"They threw that first punch and we really came out in the second half," said Cobbers senior guard Emily Beseman. "We don’t have a quit. We fight all the time.”
The Cobbers (16-3, 13-3 MIAC) have won eight consecutive games and remained one game behind conference-leading Gustavus. Concordia has six games to play in the regular season, including four at home. The Cobbers are off to their best start since the 1988-89 season when they won 24 of their first 26 games and finished at 24-3 overall.
"I think our girls have been pretty resilient," said Cobbers head coach Kim Wagers. “We haven’t played our best game every game, but we found ways to win.”
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The 5-foot-7 Beseman finished with a game-high 17 points with seven rebounds and nine assists. She scored 10 points in the pivotal third quarter in which the Cobbers scored 25 points, equaling their total output for the first half.
“Emily is a gamer, she’s always around the ball," Wagers said. "She’s our intensity on defense. She’s a ball-hawk and she’s our motor, she makes us go a lot of times.”
The Bennies took a 41-26 lead after guard Gabby Martin sank two free throws with 8 minutes, 47 seconds to play in the third quarter. The Cobbers countered with 24 of the next 30 points to surge into the lead.
Junior guard Jordyn Kahler helped sparked that surge with two 3-pointers less than 90 seconds apart.
“Jordy’s 3s were huge in the third quarter," Wagers said.
“We get huge stops and our shots just fall and that really creates our momentum," Beseman added.
Beseman also hit two 3-point shots during that game-changing run. She capped the surge with a layup for a 50-47 Cobbers lead with 1:11 to play in the third. The game was knotted at 50-50 heading into the final quarter. Concordia made 10 of 16 shots from the floor in the third quarter.
“As soon as we tied it I think everyone relaxed a little bit and things kind of clicked from there," Wagers said.
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Concordia started the fourth quarter on a 17-4 surge to complete the furious rally. Beseman, Carlee Sieben and Symone Beld all made 3-pointers during that scoring spree. Sieben sank two foul shots to cap that flurry for a 67-54 lead with 44 seconds remaining.
“Our momentum was all there and we played our hearts out," Beseman said. "We played with everything that we have.”
St. Benedict led by as many as 17 points in the first half.
The Cobbers cut the Bennies lead to 15-12 after Beseman scored a layup with 2:09 remaining in the first quarter. St. Benedict countered with an 18-4 run to take command. Sophomore guard Sophia Jonas capped the surge with a putback for a 33-16 lead with 2:52 to play until halftime.
The Cobbers had 10 turnovers in the first half and the Bennies parlayed those miscues into 10 points. Jonas and sophomore forward Olivia Boily each scored eight points through the first two quarters to lead St. Benedict.
Concordia tightened up on defense in the final 20 minutes, limiting St. Benedict to 19 points in the second half.
“I think we were just trying to do too much," Beseman said of the first half. “We relaxed, threw our shoulders back and we just played our game. We knew we could do it and these fans are here for a reason. We’re here, we played tough and we played hard.”
SB 24 37 50 56
CC 14 25 50 67
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ST. BENEDICT (14-5, 11-5 MIAC): Martin 4-10 2-3 10, Meyer 4-12 0-0 8, Jonas 4-11 0-0 10, Hay 1-6 1-2 4, Szathmary 0-3 2-2 2, Johnson 1-7 0-0 2, Boily 4-8 0-2 8, Morgan 3-5 0-0 7, Kuboushek 2-4 0-0 5. Totals 23-66 5-9 56.
CONCORDIA (16-3, 13-3): Sieben 2-6 2-2 7, Beseman 6-13 2-2 17, Anderson 3-5 3-4 9, Beld 3-6 0-0 7, Kahler 3-6 0-0 8, Guler 1-1 0-0 2, Safranski 1-3 0-0 2, Sem 1-3 0-0 2, Tollefson 4-7 0-0 8, Musland 2-4 0-0 5. Totals 26-54 7-8 67.
3-point goals: SB 5-18 (Martin 0-3, Meyer 0-3, Jonas 2-7, Hay 1-2, Johnson 0-1, Morgan 1-1, Kuboushek 1-1), CC 8-20 (Sieben 1-4, Beseman 3-6, Beld 1-3, Kahler 2-4, Safranski 0-1, Tollefson 0-1, Musland 1-1). Total fouls: SB 15, CC 14. Rebounds: SB 22 (Meyer 4), CC 42 (Anderson 12). Assists: SB 12 (Martin 3), CC 20 (Beseman 9). Turnovers: SB 5, CC 12.
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