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MOORHEAD, Minn. (1/09/10)-- Concordia turned to their hard-nosed defense to stop league-leading St. Ben's and their seven-game winning streak. The Cobbers held the Blazers to just 34.0% (18-for-53) shooting from the floor and 26.3% (5-for-19) from behind the arc. The 34.0% from the field is a season low for the Blazers who entered the game unbeaten in the MIAC at 7-0.

The win snaps the Cobbers' one-game losing skid. It is the team's fifth win in the last six games. Concordia is now 7-4 in total games and 6-2 in the MIAC. CC is just one game out of the league lead as they trail St. Ben's, Macalester and Gustavus who all have one loss after Saturday's action.

St. Ben's (9-2/7-1 MIAC) led for the majority of the first half. The Blazers pushed their lead to four points with 5:36 to play in the opening period but then went ice cold as CC started to turn up the pressure on the defensive end. Concordia didn't allow a CSB field goal for five minutes and went on a 12-0 run to grab a 34-26 lead in the final minute of the half.

The Cobbers continued their success at the start of the second half and pushed their lead to 12 points at 40-28 with 18:10 to play. All told, Concordia went on an 18-2 run at the end of the first half and start of the second half and held the Blazers to just one field goal in seven minutes of play. In that stretch the CC defense held CSB to just 1-for-10 shooting from the field.

St. Ben's slowly chipped away at the double-digit deficit and eventually cut the lead to one point at  47-46 with 8:55 remaining in the game. The Cobbers then turned to offensive team leader Erica Nord to come up with the biggest basket of the game. With the Blazers pumped up from their 12-5 run, Nord snaked her way through the St. Ben's defense and put up a lay up from between the towering Blazer post players. The Cobbers then took timeout to set their defense and the team responded by going on a 10-1 run to seal the win and push the lead to 12 points at 59-47 with 5:04 to play. CSB was never able to within 10 points for the rest of the game and Concordia finished off the 12-point win.

The Cobbers were a plus-seven in the turnover department. CC forced 14 CSB miscues and only committed seven turnovers on the offensive end. That margin led to a 17-4 edge in points off of turnovers. Concordia also enjoyed a 42-18 advantage in points in the paint. Despite being undersized, The Cobbers had non-traditional points in the paint as they were able to drive into the lane and connect on their lay-ups.

Nord and Maggie Bauernfeind led Concordia with 15 points each. Nord was 5-for-11 from the floor, scored several key baskets and added four rebounds and five assists. Bauernfeind had a team-high seven rebounds to go with her 15 points and broke out of her mini scoring slump by posting a double-digit point total for the first time in the games. Anna Matetich was the final member of Concordia with at least 10 points. She was 4-for-8 from the floor and had 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

St. Ben's had only one player with more than six points in the game. Devin Bowlin was 3-for-3 from behind the arc and finished with a team-high 13 points. Heather Gillund came up with 10 rebounds in the first half and finished with a game-high 13 boards.

Concordia will play at St. Kate's on Wednesday, Jan. 13 before returning home to host St. Mary's on Saturday, Jan. 16.