WINONA, Minn. —
Grace Schaffer (Farmington, Minn.) enjoyed her second straight career performance for the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team Monday afternoon.
The sophomore, fresh off a career-high 23-point effort against St. Olaf last Saturday, recorded her first collegiate double-double — scoring a team-high 15 points and adding a career-best 10 rebounds — in SMU's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference showdown against Concordia.
Unfortunately, Schaffer's effort would not be enough, as Concordia used a pair of lengthy runs — a 14-4 burst to close out the first half, and an 11-0 fourth-quarter run — to pull away in dealing the Cardinals a 64-52 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback at the Saint Mary's Gym.
The Cobbers scored the first five points of the first quarter, and the Cardinals found themselves playing catch-up throughout the opening 10-minute frame, clawing their way within two, 15-13 on an
Izzy Goettelman (Winona, Minn.) driving layup in the quarter's waning seconds.
The second quarter began in the exact same manner as the first, as the Cobbers scored the first five points — once again opening with a field goal and following it up with a 3-pointer — to extend the lead to seven, 20-13.
Unlike the opening quarter, however, the Cardinals could not find an answer to the Cobbers' quick start, and by the time SMU made its first field goal of the stanza — on a
Riley Schiernbeck (Ida Grove, Iowa) layup at 3:28 — CC's Mikayla Anderson had knocked down three straight field goals and Saint Mary's was staring at a 10-point, 26-16 deficit.
The Cobbers pushed their advantage to 14 on a pair of Emily Beseman free throws with 59 seconds remaining, but the Cardinals closed the half on a 5-0 run — getting a layup from
Anelise Maccoux (Mukwonago, Wis.) and a buzzer-beating 3-pointers by
Autumn Passehl (La Crosse, Wis.) — to close within nine, 31-20, at the break.
The halftime intermission proved to be just what the doctor ordered for the Cardinals' offense, which poured in 12 points in the first four minutes — including 3-pointers by
Maddie Wall (Cameron, Wis.) and Goettelman, the latter of which capped a 12-3 run that pulled SMU even, 33-33.
Concordia answered SMU's quarter-opening run with one of its own, scoring 14 of the quarter's final 17 points — including eight by Carlee Sieben — to push the Cobbers' lead back to 10, 47-37, heading into the fourth quarter.
Thanks to a 9-4 run to open the fourth quarter, Saint Mary's had whittled the Cobber lead down to five, 51-46, with just over seven minutes to play, only to have Concordia rattle off 11 unanswered points — and the CC lead ballooned to 16, 62-46. SMU scored six of the game's final eight points, but it was not enough from keeping the Cobbers from their third straight conference win.
Schaffer finished 5-for-16 with a 3-pointers and a 4 of 6 showing from the free throw line en route to her team-leading 15 points against the Cobbers, while hauling in eight of her career-high 10 rebounds on the defensive end. Goettelman finished 6 of 11 with a trey in chipping in 13 points, while Passehl knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and finished 3-for-10 from the field in adding 10 points.
As a team, Saint Mary's shot 33.3 percent from the field (20-for-60) with six 3-pointers and a 6-for-11 performance from the free throw line.
The Cardinals (0-5 MIAC, 2-5 overall) are right back in action, and right back on their home court, on Wednesday, when they welcome St. Scholastica to the SMU Gym for a 7 p.m. MIAC matchup.
