Had to battle the heavy traffic on I-94 and Snelling Avenues and the snow as well on this Monday evening on my way over to Macalester's Leonard Center for this battle between visiting Concordia and host Macalester. I got settled into Leonard Center at the 16:35 mark with the Scots holding an early 7-3 lead.
Macalester's early lead quickly vanished as Cobber senior point guard Alley Fisher hit a jumper from the free throw line at the 16:13 mark and reserve sophomore forward Megan Forness put down two free throws at the 15:51 mark to tie the issue at 7-all. Each side would trade small leads over the next minute and a half and, with the Scots holding a 12-10 lead, a lay-up by Concordia sophomore reserve forward Jenna Januschka at the 13:28 mark tied the score at 12-all and a "3" by sophomore reserve guard Emma Peterson put the Cobbers up 15-12. Macalester Head Coach Kelly Roysland; not liking this development, called a thirty-second timeout to discuss things with her squad and the Scots seemed to respond as sophomore guard Grace Dickman connected with a lay-up in transition at the 12:43 mark and repeated the feat with 9:06 left that helped bring Macalester back to within one trailing 19-16.
At some point, however, you had to figure that Concordia's size advantage would gradually begin to wear down the Scots and this became more and more apparent as the first half wore on. Senior forward Erin Januschka snared an offensive rebound for a putback with 8:50 left and a drive and finish along the right baseline by Fisher upped the Cobber lead to 21-16 with 7:45 left. A jumper from the left wing area by Macalester junior guard Katelyn Kack brought the home team back to within three but a "3" from the left wing by Peterson with 6:09 left upped the Concordia lead to 24-16. Free throws by Fisher and Jenna Januschka had Concordia up 27-22 with 3:27 left and Jenna's big sis Erin increased that lead to seven with her offensive rebound and putback of Jenna's back-end miss with 3:23 left. A "3" by sophomore point guard Greta Walsh from the right top area with 2:04 left made it a 32-24 ballgame and the Scot's Roysland did not waste any time in calling another halt to the action to try and make adjustments before the halftime break. Again, Macalester seemed ready to rise to the occasion as a scores in the paint by senior reserve forward Annie Drabot with 1:45 left and by freshman reserve post Regan Fruh with 1:13 left along with one free throw by junior guard Erin Murray completed a 5-0 burst that had the Scots right back in the thick of things trailing 32-29 at halftime.
Macalester may have had hope during the halftime break but the Cobbers went right to work at the beginning of the second half to try and dash those hopes. A score in the paint by strong junior forward Olivia Johnson at the 19:41 mark and an offensive rebound and putback by junior guard Hannah Jeske at the 19:02 mark upped Concordia's back to seven at 36-29. At the 18:20 mark, Fisher got an open look from the left top area and drilled a "3" to give the Cobbers their first double-digit advantage at 39-29. The Scot's Murray, enroute to a solid second half, single-handedly cut the Concordia lead back down to five points with a "3" from the left top area at the 18:01 mark and a steal and lay-up the other way at the 16:52 mark. But Fisher came right back with two free throws at the 16:34 mark and another trey from the top of the key at the 15:59 mark to push the lead back to ten at 44-34 and Roysland felt compelled to burn a thirty-second timeout to try and stop the bleeding. That short stoppage led to another round of heroics by Murray as she exploded with a "3" from the right wing area at the 15:37 mark and then connected with a running jumper from the right side of the basket at the 14:15 mark. Another short running jumper at the 12:55 mark cut the Cobber lead down to 46-41 and now it was Concordia Head Coach Jessica Rahman's turn to call a thirty-second timeout.
Macalester would throw one last scare at the Cobbers; getting to within two points twice in the span of a minute but, with Concordia clinging to a precarious 48-46 lead, the Cobbers finally shook off the effects of their long drive down from Moorhead - and the Scots as well. A score in the paint by Jenna Januschka at the 10:13 mark and another three-point bomb by Fisher - this one from the left wing area with 9:39 left, upped the lead back to seven at 53-46. Macalester would manage to get to within three points on a pair of charity stripe shots by Fruh but a score in the paint by Erin Januschka with 6:28 left and a hard drive along the right baseline and finish by the acrobatic Walsh made it a seven-point 57-52 lead and Concordia would not look back. Pairs of charity stripe shots by Fisher and a dagger "3" by Walsh from the left wing area gave the Cobbers an insurmountable 66-52 lead with 2:47 left and another timeout by Macalester's Roysland would prove to be in vain. Johnson; playing with a foam cast on her left wrist, took an assist from Erin Januschka to score in the paint with 1:29 left and a Peterson "3" from the right wing area with :45.6 left was added insurance. Macalester's Kack would get a "3" from the right wing area with 29.9 left but Concordia would emerge victorious from this one by a final count of 73-56.
One can look at the box score for this one and point out the Scots inability to knock down shots as a team (8-24 in the second half for a paltry 33.3%) as Murray seemed to be the only sparkplug for Macalester in this one. Roysland pointed out the youth factor of this squad afterward although she did point out that the squad was definitely much more focused and determined in this game tonight as compared to the recent debacle over at Hamline last weekend. For the Cobbers, definitely a step in the right direction and definitely a momentum-builder going into Saturday's showdown at UST where they won last year. "We're still figuring some things out" admitted Rahman afterward as she pointed out how hard it really has been to replace three great seniors from last year; most notably Alex Lippert. Yet, this team has begun to take steps in the right direction after a rough start and the other thing you can't help but notice about this team is the great chemistry that exists between the players; particularly when you consider that Rahman uses a pretty steady rotation of players in and out. The one thing about the Cobbers is that they may not always start fast but they almost always finish with a head of steam. And they need to have some positive vibes going for them going into Saturday's contest at UST.
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