<ame away from a very tough week on the road with a hard fought two point win over Concordia and a tough loss against conference co-leader St. Benedict. The win over Concordia marked the 11th consecutive year the Knights have recorded 10 wins under Metcalf-Filzen. The 1-1 week puts the Knights in fifth place in the conference but with a nice three game cushion over sixth place Bethel.
The Knights are just one game behind Gustavus for fourth place which is the difference between getting a home playoff game and having to hit the road. If the season ended today, the Knights would travel to Gustavus to replay what has clearly developed into quite a rivalry this year after the exciting overtime game in West Gym earlier in the season.On Saturday the Knights traveled to Moorhead to take on the Cobbers of Concordia and came away with a nice victory, 75-73. The Knights trailed by one at the half but finally took the lead for good with about eight minutes to play in the contest and led by as many as nine and as few as one down the stretch but kept the Cobbers from ever tying the contest. The game was once again marked by balanced scoring as four Knights were in double figures, led by Sarah
Kunelius ’09 who was three of five from beyond the arc and all finished with 15 points, all scored in the second half. Sarah Lincoln ‘09 continued her dominating play of late scoring with 16 points in a season high 35 minutes on the court. Lincoln was 6-8 from the field and 3-3 from the stripe. Amber Connor ’10 chipped in 13 and Ally Weaver ’11 rounded out the double figure scorers with 10. The Knights held off Concordia for the final two minutes without the steady hand of Annie Isler ‘08 as she fouled out.
Forward Anna Biewen ’09 made it clear how crucial this win was. “The importance of this win cannot be understated. To go into a hostile environment and come away with a win this close is certainly a testament to the character of this team.”
On Wednesday Carleton journeyed to St. Benedict and faced a very balanced and deep Blazers team as 14 players saw action in the St. Benedict victory with 10 of them scoring. The final score of the contest was 73-60 and that about described the game as the Blazers never really let the Knights into it in the second half, always keeping Carleton at least five back and that was with nine and a half still to play. The Blazers bench was what really made the Knights pay, as they outscored Carleton’s bench 37-16 led by Judy Falvey with 17. The Blazers also shot much better than the Knights at an impressive 50% clip versus the Knights 38. Hannah Oken-Berg ’09 stood out for the Knights with a season high of 22 and almost single handedly at times keeping Carleton in the game. Oken-Berg said after the game, “This was a disappointing loss but it is clear that when we play to our potential this is a team we can beat in the playoffs like we did earlier this year.” Lincoln put forth her eighth straight game with double digit scoring adding 11 points and six boards. With the win St. Bens tied St. Thomas for the top spot in the conference and St. Thomas is exactly who the Knights will take on Saturday which concludes a stretch of Carleton playing the top four teams in the conference in a 13 day period.