Mequon

Concordia needed everything senior Pearl Wallace had left in the tank to get past 8th seeded MSOE last evening 59-53. The Raiders, trailing by double figure margins for much of the second half, had crept back within 2 points with 1:35 remaining before Wallace's 3 pointer allowed some Falcon breathing room.

The tense win propelled CUW (17-9) into the NAC semi-finals Friday evening at 7pm in the Buuck Fieldhouse against Benedictine.

Last night neither team was able to get into an offensive flow during a grinding first half that saw Concordia go into the locker room with a 23-19 lead despite shooting just 24% from the field.

After the break, CUW got their transition game in motion and bolted to cushions of 36-23 in the first 5 minutes and then 40-27 with just 12 minutes remaining.

The 8th seeded visitors (11-15) would not quit, however, and eventually Jackie Bertram's layup made it a one possession game prior to the Wallace heroics.

Wallace's performance included 20 points, 15 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 assists.

The vast majority of Concordia's points came from inside with post players Kendall Kerns (14) and Ashleigh Galligan (8) following Wallace in the scoring column.

MSOE was led by lanky Carol Cayo whose body of work included 16 points, 21 rebounds, and 9 blocked shots.