The Knights (24-3) won the conference's post-season tournament for the fourth consecutive time, holding the Cobbers (21-7) to 2-of-31 shooting (6.5 percent) and 10 points in the first half.
"We were just awesome defensively," Carleton head coach Tammy Metcalf-Filzen said. "If we could have scored a couple of those buckets it could have been a different game at halftime. We’ve been very solid defensively." The Knights, who held Gustavus Adolphus College to 13 second-half points in their MIAC Playoff semifinal victory, leads the MIAC in scoring defense.
Mandy Pearson, who scored a career-best 29 points in Wednesday's semifinal upset of top seed College of St. Benedict, was held to 2-for-13 shooting for 12 points. She was the lone Cobber in double figures.
Kristi Colbenson added 10 points for the Knights and Beth Freeman added nine points, eight rebounds and three assists. She also helped hold Concordia's senior 6'4" center, Beth Drager, to 1-for-8 shooting and a mere two points and two rebounds. The win gives Carleton the MIAC's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
Carleton scored the game's first 13 points, holding the visitors scoreless for the first eight minutes of the game. The Knights couldn't really get on track offensively either, as they shot 29 percent in the first half and led only 20-10 at the break.
Carleton pushed the lead to 16 out of the locker room, but the Cobbers put together a 10-2 spurt, getting three-pointers from Tori Ehlert and Kim Meyer to pull with eight, 33-25. Concordia trailed 39-29 after a Jamie Visness jumper, but Carleton used a 13-3 spurt to put the Cobbers away, as Vig's three-pointer highlighted the spurt.
The Knights made it look like the game might be over by halftime, racing to a 16-2 lead 8:33 into the first half. The Knights would go cold, however, scoring only four points the rest of the stanza. Kate Krueger gave the Knights a huge lift off the bench, tallying eight of Carleton's 20-first half points and playing stellar defense on Pearson.
"My mindset was to come in and play good defense and let the offense just flow from that," Krueger said afterwards. "I think when I get a couple of big stops on a good player it gets me pretty hyped up. My shot’s been off for a while, so it was good to get that back."
Carleton, which shot 55 percent in the second half, finished at 39 percent for the game and held the Cobbers to 18 percent. The Knights owned an 18-2 advantage in points in the paint and a 9-3 edge in bench scoring. It marked Carleton's ninth consecutive win over Concordia.
2004 MIAC Playoff Championship Newspaper Box Score Concordia-Moorhead vs Carleton College 2/28/04 3:00 p.m. at Northfield, MN At Northfield, MN CARLETON COLLEGE 62, CONCORDIA-MOORHEAD 40 CONCORDIA-MOORHEAD (21-7) Mandy Pearson 2-13 7-8 12; Jamie Visness 3-12 0-0 7; Anne Keeley 2-10 2-2 6; Kim Meyer 1-2 2-2 5; Tori Ehlert 1-6 1-2 4; Karie Visness 0-1 2-2 2; Debbie Slack 0-3 2-4 2; Beth Drager 1-8 0-0 2; Cristina Aarestad 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 10-57 16-20 40. CARLETON COLLEGE (24-3) Megan Vig 4-14 4-6 13; Katie Freeman 5-7 0-0 13; Kristi Colbenson 3-8 4-4 10; Beth Freeman 3-7 2-2 9; Kate Krueger 3-4 0-0 8; Abby Kalland 1-1 3-4 5; Kari Christianson 0-3 2-2 2; Linnea Engel 1-4 0-0 2; Cassie Hammond 0-3 0-2 0. Totals 20-51 15-20 62. Concordia-Moorhead............ 10 30 - 40 Carleton College.............. 20 42 - 62 3-point goals-Concordia-Moorhead 4-17 (Tori Ehlert 1-1; Kim Meyer 1-2; Mandy Pearson 1-7; Jamie Visness 1-3; Karie Visness 0-1; Anne Keeley 0-3), Carleton College 7-11 (Katie Freeman 3-3; Kate Krueger 2-2; Beth Freeman 1-1; Megan Vig 1-5). Fouled out--Concordia-Moorhead-None, Carleton College-Katie Freeman. Rebounds-Concordia-Moorhead 33 (Debbie Slack 9), Carleton College 48 (Katie Freeman 10). Assists-Concordia-Moorhead 6 (Mandy Pearson 2; Jamie Visness 2; Karie Visness 2), Carleton College 11 (Beth Freeman 3). Total fouls-Concordia-Moorhead 15, Carleton College 21. A-1200 Carleton Wins 2004 MIAC Playoff Championship. Carleton recieves automatic bid to NCAA Tournament.