Blazers look to contain Pearson

That's not a task St. Benedict has been successful at during the past two seasons.

In her team's past five matchups with the Blazers, the Eden Valley-Watkins graduate and defending MIAC MVP is averaging 26.6 points per game. Her best performance in that streak was the most recent, a 31-point, eight-assist outing in the Cobbers' 83-75 victory in Moorhead on Jan. 24.

"With Mandy, you know she's going to play hard every single game and every single practice," said Concordia coach Jessica Rahman, whose second-seeded Cobbers (19-4 overall) play host to third-seeded St. Benedict (20-4) at 7:30 p.m. today at Memorial Auditorium in Moorhead.

"Some games playing hard means she'll score a lot of points. In other games, it means she'll do some great things on defense and make a lot of assists."

The Blazers won their first meeting with Concordia this season, posting a 73-65 victory on Dec. 1 in St. Joseph. But since then, the Cobbers have come on strong. They enter play tonight on a 15-game winning streak.

"At the beginning of the year, we weren't quite sure of our offensive style," said Rahman, the former head coach at St. Cloud Tech. "We had switched a few things up and we were still getting used to them. Our defensive style was coming along, but we had some players who were still getting used to playing with one another.

"We didn't have our rhythm yet. But since Christmas, I've really been pleased with the way we've progressed."

Unlike Concordia, St. Benedict had to play in the first round, defeating No. 6 seed St. Thomas 74-62 Monday night at Claire Lynch Hall. Junior post Anna Heikenen led the way with 19 points. Senior post Kim Johnson had 14 and sophomore wings Jen Dalhed and Katie Kempe each had 12.

Backup sophomore point guard Laura Zwach had four points in the win.

She was ill and unable to make the trip the last time the Blazers played at Concordia, a situation that St. Benedict coach Mike Durbin said drastically altered his team's rotation.

"(Kempe) picked up a couple of fouls early, and we didn't have Laura to go to," Durbin said. "It threw our rotation way out of whack and that hurt us."

Durbin plans to match Dalhed on Pearson tonight. But Heikenen said everyone will have to do their part.

"Jen will be on her, but the posts have to help out when she drives," said Heikenen, who is averaging 17.2 ppg. "We know how dangerous she is, but hopefully we can do a better job containing her."

Athletic Department
College of Saint Benedict
37 South College Avenue
St. Joseph, MN 56374
320-363-5301
Fax 320-363-6098