Senior guard Ashley Smith became the 19th member of Concordia's 1,000 point club tonight as she scored 17 points to help the Golden Bears (3-3) to a 81-67 victory at Minnesota State (5-3) on Wednesday evening at the Taylor Center in Mankato, Minn.

Smith just missed her first double-double of the season as she grabbed a team-high nine rebounds (five offensive). She shot 7-14 from the field while dishing four assists with a block and an assist in 38 minutes of court time.

Sophomore center Amanda Behnke paced Concordia with a game-high 23 points while grabbing five rebounds. She also had a pair of steals and a block and shot 7-10 from the field in 32 minutes.

The Golden Bears were shaky in the first half, forcing only two early ties and trailing by as many as nine points, 23-14, at the 10:34 mark. But they fought back and cut it to a 39-35 deficit at the break. CU dominated the paint in the first half, torching the Mavs for a 22-8 margin. But the absence of scoring leader Nakia Carlisle for much of the half negated the Bears' ability to penetrate. Carlisle was held scoreless with three turnovers in the first half in just five minutes of play.

The second half started rocky for Concordia as MSU upped their lead to seven, 44-37, just over two minutes into the half. But the Bears responded with a 10-2 run to grab their first lead, 47-46, with a Carlisle jumper at the 13:59 mark.

MSU responded with a Flecia Foster jumper to reclaim their lead, but a layup by freshman point guard Katie Laviolette put Concordia back on top, 49-48. The Mavericks would never lead again as Concordia rolled off 13 straight points to jump on top 60-48 with 9:31 remaining.

It was smooth sailing from there on out, as the Golden Bears coasted to a 81-67 win, outscoring MSU 46-28 in the second half.

Carlisle, who was scoreless in just five minutes in the first half, finished with 13 points in 18 total minutes of work, shooting an efficient 5-7 from the field and 3-4 at the line. She also had three rebounds, three assists, and two steals and remained in the game despite playing with four fouls.

Laviolette dished out a game-high six assists and converted three of her final five shots after starting 1-9. She finished with nine points on 4-14 shooting and also had five rebounds. Junior forward Janine Kuklis added eight points to round Concordia's starting five, who scored 70 of Concordia's 81 points.

Freshman Candace Olstad was the leader off the bench, scoring six points as she converted all six of her free throws and grabbed seven rebounds in 15 minutes. Sophomore Mary Schroeder scored five first-half points in seven minutes.

Concordia has the weekend off but remains on the road next Wednesday, Dec. 14 when they travel to #7 St. Cloud State in a rematch of last season's NCAA North Central Regional final game, which the Huskies won 81-70 to advance to the NCAA Elite Eight.