Bri Monahan record a double-double for Gustavus (19 points, 10 rebounds).
Jess Vadnais scored 20 points and was 11-of-13 from the free throw line.
Kenzie Consoer scored six points for the Gusties.
Julia Schultz posted seven points and seven rebounds.
The Gustavus women’s basketball team advanced to the conference championship game with its semifinal win over Concordia-Moorhead by the score of 63-52. After the first half, the score was tied 25-25, but the Gusties (22-4) outscored the Cobbers (18-9) 38-27 in the second half to claim the 11-point victory. Gustavus will meet St. Ben’s on Saturday for the MIAC Championship game in St. Joseph, Minn at 3pm.
The score was tied at 7-7 with 12:30 to play in the first half when Bri Monahan (Sr., Hutchinson, Minn.) laid in two points that triggered a 10-2 Gustavus run over the next two and a half minutes. Julia Schultz (Fy., Marshall, Minn.) capped the run with a three-pointer to give the Gusties a 17-9 lead. The Cobbers began to chip away at the lead when Annie Keeley made a three-pointer with 6:30 left in the half to make the score 19-12. Two minutes later, Melanie Hageman started a 6-0 Concordia run with a two-point basket. A three-pointer by Kaitlynn Gottenborg tied the score at 23-23 with 2:10 left to play. Monahan sank a pair of free throws at the 1:59 mark and Hageman laid in two points with 1:15 left to finish the scoring in the first half and the two teams went to the locker room tied at 25-25.
The first 12 minutes of the second half saw the two teams battle back and forth with neither team able to pull away. With the score tied at 40-40, Keeley hit a clutch trey to spark a 7-1 Cobber run. Hageman’s short jumper gave Concordia a 47-41 lead with 6:00 minutes left on the clock. Gustavus took control from this point on by scoring 20 of the next 22 points over the final 5:30 of the game. Erin Boese (Sr., Rochester, Minn.) started the Gustie run by hitting a jump shot to cut the lead to four points with less than six minutes to play. Monahan gave Gustavus the lead for good when she made a three-pointer with 3:43 on the clock. Jess Vadnais (Jr., Hudson, Wisc.) capped the run with two free throws to give Gustavus a 61-49 lead with :32 left. Hageman scored a three-point basket with :21 seconds to play to cut the lead to nine (61-54), but it was too little, too late for the Cobbers. Vadnais, who was 11-of-13 from the free throw line in the game, made the final score 63-52 by sinking two free throws with :19 seconds on the clock.
Vadnais led the Gusties in scoring with 20 points, while Monahan recorded a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Hageman led the Cobbers in scoring and also recorded a double-double with 24 points and 10 rebounds.
Jess Vadnais set the single-season scoring mark in the game with 497 points in 26 games. The previous mark was 495, set by Bri Monahan last season.
The Gustie victory snapped a five-game losing streak to the Cobbers over the past two seasons. Concordia had beaten Gustavus twice including the regular season claiming a 71-69 win in Moorhead and a 49-46 victory in St. Peter.
The Gusties will now advance to face rival St. Ben’s on Saturday. Gustavus will be making its second appearance in the championship game in the seven-year history of the MIAC post-season tournament with the other appearance coming in 2003.
The Gusties and the Blazers split the regular season series with St. Ben’s winning 67-52 in St. Joseph and Gustavus winning 66-58 in St. Peter. The winner receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, while the loser will have to sit and wait to see if the NCAA will offer an at-large bid to the runner-up.