MOORHEAD, Minn. — As if trying to shut down Concordia's high-powered offense wasn't tough enough, the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team had to face a Cobber team who came into Wednesday's matchup in a rather foul mood.
 
Shooting just 1-for-16 from behind the 3-point line and having their season-high seven-game winning streak snapped at the hands of Hamline last Saturday will do that to a team.
 
And the Cobbers took out their frustrations on the Cardinals, racing out to a commanding 22-5 lead after the game's opening 10 minutes and never looking back in dealing Saint Mary's a 83-38 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback at CC's Memorial Auditorium.
 
For the second game in a row, it was a sluggish start that made things difficult for the Cardinals, who suffered through runs of 14-2 in the first quarter and 14-0 in the second in a 73-55 loss to Bethel last Saturday, could not overcome Concordia's 16-0 outburst to end the first quarter on Wednesday.
 
The Cobbers scored the first field goal of the game, and would not relinquish that lead, holding a 6-5 advantage through the game's opening five minutes — with Grace Schaffer (Farmington, Minn.) accounting for all five SMU points — before rattling off 16 unanswered points to extend that lead to 17, 22-5, heading into the second quarter.
 
Concordia pushed the advantage to 21, 31-10 on a Mikayla Anderson jumper with 6:25 to play in the second quarter, and would not let SMU get any closer than 20 the rest of the way, taking a 22-point, 43-21 cushion into the halftime break.
 
After waiting until the final minutes of the fourth quarter to knock down their first 3-pointer in last Saturday's loss to Hamline the Cobbers drained five 3-pointers in the opening half against the Cardinals, while shooting 50 percent (18-for-36) from the field. SMU meanwhile, rebounded from a 2 of 11 first quarter showing from the field, closing the half going 9-for-23 with three 3-pointers.
 
A pair of Katelyn Cruze (Litchfield, Minn.) field goals got SMU within 20, 45-25, to open the third quarter, but back-to-back turnovers and three straight missed field goals on the Cardinals' next five possessions, and the Cobbers' lead had ballooned to 31, 56-25 with 4:45 to play. Concordia outscored SMU 8-4 over the final four-plus minutes and held a 64-29 advantage after three quarters.
 
The Cobbers used an 8-0 run to open the fourth quarter and closed out the final period outscoring Saint Mary's 19-9 in improving to 8-0 on their home court, and 15-4 overall..
 
Cruze and Maddie Wall (Cameron, Wis.) each scored six points to lead the way for the Cardinals, who closed out the game shooting 32.7 percent from the field (16-for-49), but were just 4 of 20 from behind the 3-point line, and shot 2 of 5 from the free throw line.
 
The Cardinals (0-15 MIAC, 2-1 overall) are back in action — and back on the road — on Saturday, heading to Macalester's Leonard Center Gym for a 1 p.m. MIAC showdown against the Scots.
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