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Oles lose battle for 6th place in MIAC standings

Sarah McBroom
January 28, 2002

NORTHFIELD, MINN. ? On Saturday, January 26, the St. Olaf basketball team ( 7-8 MIAC, 9-9 overall) fell to the Concordia-Moorhead Cobbers (8-7 MIAC, 8-10 overall), 63-58.

The road loss gives the Cobbers lone possession of sixth place in a very tight MIAC race. Seven regular season games remain and the Oles still have a chance to move up in the rankings and earn a playoff berth.

St. Olaf played well in the first half, getting out to a quick 18-6 lead. The Cobbers battled back to come within two points, but the Oles went on a 8-0 run to pull ahead 28-20 at the half. "We played great defense in the first half," commented Coach Buresh. "We took a lot of their offense away from them." St. Olaf at one time led 38-28 in the second half, but then the Cobbers went on a 11-0 run of their own to control the lead for the first time since the opening basket. After several lead changes, the Cobber's Trisha Steinborn hit a three, putting the Cobbers up 51-49 with seven minutes remaining in the ball game. Concordia, improving from a 27.6 field goal percentage in the first half, shot 52 percent from the field in the second half and an impressive 62.5 percent from the three point arc. In comparison, the Oles shot 34.3 percent for the half. In other team statistics, the Oles out-rebounded the Cobbers 44-39 and committed fewer turnovers.

However, the Cobbers went 15 for 21 from the charity strip (12-15 in the second half) in comparison to the Oles' five for 11 total. "We missed the front end of several bonus opportunities," explained coach Buresh, "that was the difference right there."

Cara Battles (Sr, McGregor, Minn.) scored 15 points for the Oles, while Liz Mundahl (Jr, Eagan, Minn.) scored ten and Liz Woodrow (Sr, Aitkin, Minn.) added eight. Jill Johnson (So, Butterfield, Minn.) grabbed nine rebounds for the Oles and Lori Enlund (So, Bloomington, Ill.) secured seven rebounds and had two blocks.

The Oles next travel to Bethel College to play the Royals on Monday, January 28. Game time is 7:30 PM.

Contact Judy Stromayer at 507-786-3315 or stromaye@stolaf.edu.