(Ann Arbor, MI) Concordia came into Saturday's matchup against Aquinas College in search of a pivotal win in regards to WHAC standings. Aquinas and Concordia sat at fourth and fifth in the conference standings respectively with prospective chances at hosting a playoff game in each team's sights. The Cardinals were also celebrating Senior Day, honoring Jerrica Neal, Rachel Perry, Rebecca Laberge, and Shelbea James during half time of the men's game. Concordia came to play, defeating the Saints by a score of 59-42, moving the Cards into fourth place in the conference standings with four games remaining.
Tris'styn Williams went off on the Saints, scoring 22 and pulling down 7 rebounds throughout the game. Katie Snow added 12 points along with her 4 steals and 6 rebounds. The Cardinal defense limited the Saints to a 25.4 FG% and an abysmal 5.9 3PFG% as well.
Concordia rolled out a starting lineup that featured all four of the Cardinal seniors and Madison Birchmeier. Both teams struggled offensively to begin, but towards the end of the period both offenses found a rhythm and were able to tally double digits despite the sub-30% shooting percentages on both sides.
Tris'styn Williams opened up the second quarter with a bucket down low which was followed by a Katie Snow three to open up the Cardinal lead ever so slightly. Aquinas knocked down a triple four minutes into the quarter to tie things up in the close game as Stephanie Abraham drew a pair of fouls with her post play. Concordia's full court pressure began to force mistakes from the Saints and the Cards started to make baskets in transition. It was a Birchmeier three that helped give the Cardinals a 5 point lead going into halftime.
Concordia looked for chances in the paint by way of Williams to start the second half, and slowly grew their lead in the ensuing minutes. The Cardinal defense continued to pressure the Saints into taking bad shots, with Aquinas still making under 30% of their attempts. In fact Concordia held Aquinas scoreless for over nine minutes in the third quarter, only allowing five total points in the period.
The tide changed in the fourth quarter as the Saints pulled within three at one point following a few Cardinal mishaps. Tris'styn Williams answered with an old fashioned three point play and took over in the post for the Cardinal offense. Williams' dominance allowed the Cardinals to grow the lead to the point where Coach Kiefer Haffey was able to put all four of his seniors back in for the remainder of the game.
The Cardinals' next game will be at UM-Dearborn this Wednesday, February 12th. Tipoff will be at 5:30 in Dearborn.
