MOORHEAD, Minn. – Last season in Moorhead, the College of Saint Benedict basketball team needed overtime and a pair of free throws with 0.1 seconds on the clock to come away with a win. The Bennies needed some of that late magic again Wednesday, but came up just short.
 
Saint Benedict fell 53-52 to the Cobbers after Concordia hit a layup with five seconds left. The Bennies took a timeout to advance the ball, and Sidney Schiffler got a decent look at a layup, but it wouldn't go in and the Cobbers held on for the win.
 
The score was close throughout Wednesday as neither team led by more than six points the entirety of the game, and the lead changed 10 times in the fourth quarter alone. Concordia (7-8, 5-5) took a three-point lead, 50-47, with 2:18 left, but Alex Johnson hit two free throws to cut the gap to one. Megan Thompson hit a three with 1:26 left to put the Bennies up one, 52-51, and Johnson got a steal on the Cobbers' ensuing possession, but missed on a layup to extend the team's lead.
 
Concordia missed its original jumper with six seconds left, but got the offensive board and scored with just over five seconds remaining to take a one-point lead that would be enough for the win.
 
Concordia led by three points twice early in the first quarter, and Saint Benedict's biggest lead was two. Tori Szathmary hit a three with 2:02 left to put the Bennies (8-8, 4-7) up 13-11, but the Cobbers hit a free throw to make it a one-point game after one quarter.
 
The two teams combined for 22 points in the second quarter, and 18 of those 22 came in the final 3:11. Thompson hit a pair of free throws at the 7:56 mark to put CSB up 15-12, and Concordia hit a single free throw at the 6:42 mark to make it a 15-14 game, and neither team scored again until McKenzie Holgate hit a three to put the Bennies up four with 3:11 left to play.
 
From there, Maddie Schmitz scored to give CSB its biggest lead of the game at 20-14. The Cobbers regained the lead, but Johnson converted a three-point play with 39 seconds left and Thompson got a steal and hit a 3-pointer as time expired to put CSB up 26-21 at halftime.
 
The Bennies didn't score their first point of the third quarter until Madison Doran hit a free throw with 5:26 to play as Concordia outscored CSB 14-5 in the quarter to take a 35-31 lead into the fourth. Hannah Johnson and Sidney Schiffler both scored to tie the game, and the final 7:29 was back and forth until the final buzzer sounded.
 
Thompson and Alex Johnson both finished with 10 points for CSB, which shot just 30 percent from the field. Shae Olsen had six rebounds for the team, which went 8-for-14 from the field and had 33 rebounds and 12 turnovers.
 
Emily Beseman had 12 points and Bailee Larson had 15 of Concordia's 46 rebounds. The Cobbers shot 37.5 percent from the field, went 8-for-13 from the line and had 18 turnovers.
 
CSB is back on the road Saturday, Jan. 25, when it heads to Northfield to take on Carleton at 3 p.m.