MOORHEAD, Minn. (12/07/11)—Emily Thesing drove the length of the court and dropped in a running layup with 3 seconds to play to give the Cobbers a 63-61 win over St. Mary's on Wednesday.    

Concordia needed Thesing's last-second heroics after the Cobbers erased a 15-point halftime deficit and managed to grab a 61-59 lead with under 2 minutes to play.  CC missed on all 10 of their shots from behind the arc in the second half and scored only 23 points in the final 20 minutes but was able to come away with the win after the defense stopped SMU on their final four possessions of the game.

The Cobbers have now won two straight games and are 5-2 in overall games and 3-1 in league play this year.  St. Mary's has their one-game winning streak come to an end as they fall to 2-3 in all games and 2-2 in the conference.

Concordia rolled through the first, making 45.5% (15-for-33) of their shots from the field while connecting on four 3-point field goals. At the same time, the Cobber defense forced 10 turnovers, held a 22-11 edge in rebounding and pressured SMU into a 1-for-10 half of 3-point shooting. All that added up to an all-too easy 40-25 halftime lead.

The whole feeling of the game changed in the first five minutes of the second half when St. Mary's made five of their first nine field goal attempts, went on a 15-0 run and cut the lead all the way down to four at 44-40. From there the game would tighten up with the teams trading baskets and playing through the final 10 minutes of play with seven tied scores. The Cardinals took their first lead of the game at the 6:56 mark and after that neither team led by more than two points.

Alexandra Lippert had a team-high 17 points for CC. She also came away with a team-high eight rebounds. Tricia Sorensen had 15 points - all in the first half - and added six rebounds and five assists. Thesing finished with 11 points and six assists. Senior center Andrea Benjamin came off the bench and knocked down four field goal attempts and finished with a season-high eight points in eight minutes of play.

St. Mary's had three players account for 79% of the teams total scoring. Jessica Thone was 8-for-14 from the floor and finished with a game-high 23 points. Courtney Euerle added 13 points and Jamie Stefely chipped in 12.

The Cobbers will play a second straight home game when they host Hamline on Saturday, Dec. 10 at 1 p.m.