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Ole women victorious over Concordia 74-72

Sarah McBroom
December 10, 2001

The Olaf women's basketball (2-2 MIAC, 4-3 overall) team beat the Cobbers of Concordia-Moorhead College (2-2 MIAC, 2-4 overall) with a final score 74-72 on Saturday, December 8 at St. Olaf. Both teams exhibited their talent in an exciting contest in which its outcome was uncertain until the very last seconds of the game.

Concordia-Moorhead started the game very strongly, quickly securing a 19-6 lead in the first five minutes. The Oles kept focused, however, and were able to put together a run of their own to lead by as much as 13 in the first half. This large swing of points in the half was the result of a huge momentum shift to St. Olaf's favor. Coach Buresh explained, "Play from our bench after our first substitution really got the team going. It was our defense that started the run." The Ole defense did pick up the tempo, causing the Cobbers to become tentative and commit turnovers. In addition, the Oles executed their offense, taking good shots and shooting extremely well from the field making 51 percent for the half. St. Olaf's lead was cut to seven by the halftime, however, when the Cobbers capitalized on some Oles mistakes in the last remaining minutes of the first half.

The Cobbers started out the second half aggressively, putting full court pressure on the Oles. St. Olaf responded with tough defense of their own and a physical inside game, but didn't shoot as well from the field as in the first half. With two minutes to go, the Oles found themselves trailing by five, but a few big plays put them in the lead when time expired. Carrie Cooley (Sr, Villard, Minn.) connected on an outside shot for two points, and Cara Battles (Sr, McGregor, Minn.) found a three point shot to tie the Cobbers. Then, after another Cobber turnover, the Oles set up a play for the final shot. The outside shot attempt failed, but Jill Johnson (So, Butterfield, Minn.) secured the offensive rebound and the put-back for the Oles to put them up by two. Concordia-Moorhead was able to get a shot off in the last remaining seconds, but the attempt from beyond the arc was no good, giving the Oles the conference win.

Playing well for the Oles was Johnson who was six for nine from the field, and four for four from the free throw line totaling 16 points and seven rebounds. Battles contributed 14 points, five assists, and three steals. Molly Simon (FY, Hudson, Wis.) added nine points and five assists as well. The leading rebounder for the Oles was Lori Enlund (So, Bloomington, Ill.) with nine. As a team the Oles had 41 total rebounds for the game, out-rebounding the Cobbers by ten. St. Olaf was on fire from the free throw line shooting 89 percent but only got there nine times in comparison to Condordia-Moorhead's 23 attempts. High scorer for the game was Kasey Bostow from Concordia with 27 points.

The Oles play conference opponent Augsburg College in their last contest before the winter break. The game will be held at Augsburg at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, December 10.

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