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Saint Mary's University of Minnesota Athletics

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF SAINT MARY'S UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA CARDINAL ATHLETICS
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Chris Ebert

Women's Basketball

Cobbers block Cardinals' path to third conference victory

Alex Conover, SMU Sports Information Office

SMU's Jessica Thone drives to the basket during Sunday's MIAC game against Concordia
Game Summary / Photo Gallery / GameDay Preview

WINONA, Minn. — Much like the snowy roads around town, the Saint Mary's women's basketball team's path to a third conference win was blocked on Saturday afternoon.

The main roadblock for the Cardinals was Concordia's Alexandra Lippert, a 6-4 freshman center, whose eight blocks — including six in the first half — helped lead the Cobbers to a 55-34 victory over the Cardinals at the SMU Gym.

“Lippert's good,” said SMU coach Mandy Pearson. “But what makes her good is who she has around her — Concordia has great guard play. We were so afraid to get beaten on drives that we let them shoot over the top.”

SMU's only lead was early in the first half when Jessica Thone (Woodbury, Minn.) drained a 3-pointer. After that, Concordia took off running and never took their foot off the gas.

The Cardinals shot a frigid 6-for-28 (21%) from the field in the first half, and the Cobbers took advantage — enjoying scoring runs of 10-0 and 16-2 en route to a 35-18 halftime advatnage

The second half saw more of the same, as the Cardinals' scoring woes continued. The Cobbers maintained a 20-point lead throughout the rest of the game and attained their sixth straight win.

“You're not going to win many games when you're shooting so poorly,” said Pearson, whose Cardinals shot only 19 percent from the field over the course of the game. “We didn't work together, we drew too many travel calls and we missed a lot of layups — there were some little things that made a big difference.”

Freshman Courtney Euerle (Litchfield, Minn.) had career night with eight points and eight rebounds to lead the Cardinals, while THone and Jess Miller (Carver, Minn.) both had six points.

Lippert nearly had a triple-double for the Cobbers, pulling in nine rebounds and seven points to go with her eight blocks. Erica Nord had 10 points to lead Concordia in a well-rounded scoring effort.

The Cardinals (4-3, 2-2 in the MIAC) do not play again until Jan. 3, 2011, when they host St. Thomas in a 7:30 p.m. conference game at the SMU Gym.

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