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MOORHEAD, Minn. (1/16/10)-- It took all 40 minutes for Concordia to finally come away with a win against St. Mary's in Moorhead on Saturday as the scrappy Cardinals clung to the Cobbers for the entire game. In the end, Concordia was able to come away with a 46-43 victory in a game that will never show up on any offensive highlight reels.

The Cobbers did just enough to earn their ninth win of the season. CC is now 9-4 overall and 8-2 in the MIAC. The win also helps Concordia move into a three-way tie for second place in the league standings after St. Ben's lost for the second time in the past week.

The Concordia offense could never find a rhythm in the game and was never able to make an extended run to put St. Mary's away. The largest lead for the Cobbers was four points and the biggest run was an 11-3 streak that helped CC erase a seven-point deficit in the first half. St. Mary's held the lead for almost the entire first 20 minutes. The Cobbers took the lead in the final minute of the first half to take a 29-27 lead into the break and then in the second half, the teams traded the lead a couple of times and had the score tied on three occasions.

The game hung in the balance in the final minutes of play. The Cobbers had 44-40 lead when St. Mary's junior Cherie Kulig canned her only 3-pointer of the game to bring SMU to within one at 44-43. The teams then traded turnovers before Concordia guard Maggie Bauernfeind got free under the basket and made a lay-up to push the score to 46-43. The Cardinals missed a pair of low-percentage 3-point attempts in the last :10 seconds of the game and the Cobbers were able to escape with the three-point win.

Concordia's defense limited SMU to only 43 points in the game which is a season low for a Cobber opponent. It marked the third straight game they have not allowed an opponent to score more than 56 points. CC's defense forced 29 turnovers in the game and pushed St. Mary's into several shot clock violations. The 29 turnovers by SMU is also a season high for a Concordia opponent.

Erica Nord had a team-high 15 points for Concordia. She also added seven rebounds and two assists. Bauernfeind had 11 points and was the only other Cobber player with more than six points. Anna Matetich continued her trend of outstanding play and came away with a game-high eight rebounds.

Jess Miller went 3-for-5 from 3-point range and led St. Mary's with 19 points. Kulig finished with 12 points as the pair accounted for 31 of the team's 43 points on the day. Kulig also had eight rebounds.

The game marked the beginning of a stretch where Concordia will play four games in seven days. The Cobbers will head to Northfield to take on St. Olaf on Monday, Jan. 18 at 5:45 p.m. before returning home to host St. Thomas on Wednesday, Jan. 20.