Game Summary vs. Concordia / GameDay Online

MOORHEAD, Minn. — Jess Miller (Carver, Minn.) grabbed an offensive rebound and drained a jump shot for the game's opening basket Wednesday evening.

That was the good news for the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team.

The bad news?

Concordia's 42-point first-half scoring outburst … SMU's 23 points in the game's opening 20 minutes. … The Cardinals' second-half deep freeze.

Take your pick.

The Cardinals' offense was colder than the single-digit temperature outside Wednesday, as SMU fell behind by as many as 19 in the first half and never recovered, falling to the Cobbers 74-47 in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game.

"Give Concordia credit, they are a physical, aggressive team and tney just wore us down," said SMU coach Mandy Pearson. "WE played hard all game, we just had a couple of lapses that we couldn't overcome."

SMU scored first on Miller's first bucket of the evening, but it was all Concordia after that, as the Cobbers outscored the Cardinals 31-14 over the final 14 minutes of the first half to grab a commanding 42-23 advantage at the break.

It proved to be a mountain too steep for the Cardinals to climb, as Concordia outscored SMU 32-24 in the second half in taking one step closer to solidifying the No. 2 seed in the upcoming MIAC playoffs.

With one game remaining in the conference schedule, the Cobbers are tied with St. Thomas for second in the MIAC standings at 16-5. SMU, meanwhile, slipped to 4-17 in conference play and 4-19 overall.

Cherie Kulig (Independence, Wis.) scored a team-best 11 points, while Miller finished with 10 for the Cardinals. Jenna Freudenberg netted a game-high 19 points and Sara Sorbo chipped in 11 for the Cobbers.

The Cardinals close out their season at home on Saturday, playing host to Augsburg in a 1 p.m. conference game at the SMU Gym.