ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (2-5, 0-2 NSIC) is preparing for their second weekend of conference play when they will take on both the Upper Iowa Peacocks (2-7, 0-3 NSIC) and the Winona State Warriors (6-1, 2-1 NSIC). Both games will be played on the road, playing Upper Iowa on Friday, December 8 at 6 p.m. and Winona State the following day at 4 p.m.  
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Golden Bears are coming off their first weekend of conference play where they fell to both the Augustana Vikings and the Wayne State Wildcats at the Gangelhoff Center to close out their six-game homestand.
 
The Vikings got out to an early lead on Friday night, up 18-11 after the first ten minutes of play. An early second quarter jumper for freshman Ellie Gess cut their lead to five, but Augustana slowly pulled ahead again, going up by 14 at the half. The Bears rallied to start the third quarter, though, going on a 13-3 point run to immediately cut the Viking lead to only four. Junior Anna Schmitt, scored ten of those thirteen, connecting on her first four attempts of the half. Augustana quickly responded with ten unanswered points of their own and cruised the rest of the way to a 72-50 win over the Bears.
 
The following day Concordia took on Wayne State and the two teams were tied at 34 heading into the halftime break. In the third quarter, the game went back-and-forth for the first four minutes, featuring three ties. After that, the Wildcats were able to build up a bit of a lead, going on to win by 17. In the contest the Bears were held to shooting only 36.2% from the field while their opponents hit 56.6% of their shots.
 
Gess had back-to-back career-high nights, as she was Friday's top scorer with a career-high 16 points and then scored 17 the following day. The freshman shot an impressive 53.3% (8-15) from behind the arc and 48.0% (12-25) from the field throughout the two games. Schmitt continued her solid offensive play, averaging 19.0 points and 4.0 assists per game. The Waconia native still paces the conference in scoring, averaging 24.1 points per game, which ranks sixth nationally.
 
UPPER IOWA SERIES HISTORY
The Bears own a 21-4 all-time record against the Peacocks, but are 2-3 in their past five meetings. CSP started playing Upper Iowa in 2005, and in their first twenty matchups, the Bears were an impressive 19-1, only losing once in 2012. The last time that Concordia has beaten the Peacocks was last season, on December 9^th, 2016 when the Bears forced 17 turnovers and shot an impressive 94.1% from the free-throw line, cashing in on 16 free points.
 
LAST MEETING VS UIU
The last meeting between these two teams was on February 11^th, 2017 when the Peacocks defeated the Bears 51-43. In this game, the Bears were held to shooting a meager 15.2% from behind the arc and 30.6% from the floor. The Peacocks did not fare much better, but shot just well enough to defeat the Bears, shooting 32.1% from the floor and 28.6% from three. Another difference maker in the contest was that Upper Iowa made 11 free-throws, whereas the Bears did not go to the line once all game.
 
A last second jumper by Schmitt helped the Bears lead by three after the first half, and it remained a close game for the majority of the second half as well. It was a two point game with six minutes left before the Peacocks closed out the game on an 11-5 run to finish the game up by eight. Mishayla Jones was the leading scorer for the Bears in the matchup, scoring 22 points, while also grabbing eight rebounds. Schmitt also ended in double figures for the Bears with 11 points.
 
ABOUT THE PEACOCKS
Upper Iowa is 2-7 on the year and are still looking for their first conference win, as they have lost to Winona State, Southwest Minnesota State, and Sioux Falls so far in the NSIC. The Peacocks are coming off an 83-41 loss against Sioux Falls, where they were held to shooting 22.4% from the field and 25.0% from three, while Sioux Falls shot over 40% in both categories.
 
The Peacocks return nine players from last year's roster, including their leading scorer from 2016-17, Blair Klostermann. The junior guard leads Upper Iowa again this season, averaging 11.8 points per game. Joining Klostermann in double figures for the Peacocks is freshman Natalie Dinius, averaging 10.7 points. Also noteworthy, are juniors Ashley Rosenstiel and Haley Martin. Rosenstiel averages 7.0 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, while also holding the most steals on the team, with 12. Martin is only averaging 5.6 points per game, but is leading the Peacocks with 8.8 rebounds per game, which ranks ninth in the NSIC. As a team, Upper Iowa is averaging 54.2 points a game, while shooting 32.7% from the field and 29.0% from three.
 
WINONA STATE SERIES HISTORY
The Bears are 29-17 against the Warriors since playing them starting in 1977. From February 2007 to February 2011 Concordia defeated the Warriors in each of their meetings, which lead to an eight game streak for the Bears. Since then, smaller win streaks have gone back and forth between the teams, but last season, Concordia defeated Winona on December 10^th, 2016 which broke a five game losing streak for the Bears against the Warriors.
 
LAST MEETING VS WSU
During their first meeting of last season, the Bears were able to come out victorious by a score of 66-59. CSP outscored the Warriors in all quarters, except for the third and connected on ten three-pointers, compared to Winona's four. Concordia also held the rebounding advantage (44-39), with Kyrah Fredenburg leading the way with 14 boards. CSP presented a balanced scoring front, with four different players ending in double digits to help them secure their first win against Winona since the 2013-14 season.
 
Their second matchup of last season did not turn out as well for the Bears, as they fell 69-59 in Winona. CSP was outscored 25-17 in the first quarter, which ended up being the difference in the game as the Bears were only outscored by two in the next three quarters.   
 
Schmitt and Jones led the Bears, scoring 16 each, but were the only CSP players to end with more than ten points. Schmitt and Jones also combined for eight assists. Fredenburg secured a team-high eight rebounds and three players ended the game with two steals. The Bears however, were outshot in every category, as the Warriors shot an impressive 52.0% from the field and 44.4% from behind the arc.
 
ABOUT THE WARRIORS
Winona State is 6-1 on the year and 2-1 in the conference, with wins over Upper Iowa and Southwest Minnesota State, and a 61-60 loss against Sioux Falls. They are coming off a 68-66 win over SMSU, after holding off a fourth quarter SMSU comeback. The Warriors were up 17 heading into the final ten minutes, but then SMSU went on a 15-2 run to get the game within four. Winona built their lead up to ten again with 36 seconds left. SMSU kept battling, though, but came up just short and Winona won by two.
 
The Warriors return seven players and add six new faces to their young roster that features only four juniors or seniors. Winona has three different players in double figures, led by senior Hannah McGlone who is averaging 14.9 points and 11.3 rebounds per game. Freshman Allie Pickrain is not too far behind, averaging 13.0 points a game and leading her team in assists per game with 2.7. As a team, the Warriors are averaging 74.0 points per game and are outscoring their opponents by an average of 18.3 points. They are shooting 48.5% from the field and 35.6% from three and score an average of 19.6 points off turnovers.
 
KEY STATS
-Junior Anna Schmitt scored 24 points against Wayne State and moved up two more spots in the Concordia record book, as she now has the 19^th most career points in CSP women's basketball history with 1,159 points.
-Schmitt continues to pace the NSIC in scoring, with 24.1 points per game, which is also sixth in the nation. The junior guard has scored in double digits every game so far this season, scoring 24 or more in five out of CSP's seven games.
-Freshman Ellie Gess now has a four game streak of scoring in double figures for the Bears and has scored ten or more points five out of CSP's seven games. Her 2.1 threes per game is seventh in the NSIC.
-Junior center Lindsay Dorr continues to have a strong presence on the boards, averaging 8.3 rebounds a game, which ranks tenth in the NSIC.
-Sophomore Brianna Miller scored a season-high ten points against Wayne State, shooting 60.0% from the field and 80.0% from the free-throw line.
 
Follow along with the Golden Bears this weekend at cspbears.com/watch.