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40		65

Game Summary / GameDay Online

MOORHEAD, Minn. — It was supposed to be a homecoming of sorts for Saint Mary's University women's basketball coach Many Pearson.

After  all, the Cardinals' first-year head coach did spend four years roaming the hardwood as a Cobber, collecting more than 1,000 career points and a pair of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year honors in the process.

Unfortunately for Pearson and SMU, "home" was anything but sweet, and the Cobbers were far from gracious hosts, as Concordia held the Cardinals to 19 second-half points en route to a 65-40 victory in the teams' regular-season final Saturday afternoon.

"It was a tough day," said Pearson, whose team closed out the season with a 4-21 overall record, including a season-ending seven-game losing streak. "We did not shoot the ball as well as we needed to, and against a team like (Concordia), you can't afford to go as cold as we did."

Just how cold were the Cardinals? Frigid doesn't quite do their shooting woes justice, as SMU hit just 18 of its 51 field-goal attempts — including an 9-for-14 effort from behind the 3-point line. The Cobbers, meanwhile, shot 50 percent from the field in the first half in building a commanding, 10-point cushion, then outscored SMU 34-19 over the game's final 20 minutes to secure the win.

Jess Weisbrod (Rollingstone, Minn.) closed out her collegiate career with a 13-point, nine-rebound effort, marking the third time this season the SMU senior has missed out on a double-double by one rebound. Stephanie Ayers (Deer River, Minn.) also netted 13 points for the Cardinals. Jenna Freudenberg scored 12 opints and Melanie Hageman added 10 for Concordia, which improved to 16-9 overall and will open MIAC post-season play at Carleton on Monday.

"I was really hoping we would be able to come up here and put together a solid performance — something we could use as a springboard into next season," Pearson said. "Despite the way the season ended, I thought we showed a lot of improvement from the first time around (the conference schedule) to the second.

"We've been taking the floor with a very young team, and, hopefully, that experience will pay off for us when we step back on the court next season."