No. 4 Concordia-St. Paul upset top-seeded host no. 9 (ESPN/USA Today/WBCA Poll) North Dakota (25-6) Saturday evening 78-76 at the Betty Englestadt Sioux Center in Grand Forks, N.D. in the NCAA North Central Regional semifinals and will advance to play no. 7 St. Cloud State in the regional finals on Monday evening.
The Bears led for much of the game but struggled to put away the Sioux, who were playing with high energy in front of a raucous crowd of 1,785.
Concordia jumped out to an early 7-0 lead, but North Dakota fought back quickly to cut the score to 12-9. But the Bears rallied for a 9-2 run following a Heidi Gill (Sr., F, Buffalo, Minn.) three-pointer, giving the Bears a 23-13 lead, the largest lead of the game.
North Dakota rallied to tie the score for the first time at 30 with 4:56, but Concordia went into halftime with a 38-35 lead led by Nakia Carlisle's (Jr., G, St. Paul, Minn.) 15 points. For North Dakota, Kristi Boese was on fire in the first half, lighting the Bears up for 17 points on 7-8 shooting.
The Bears scored the first bucket of the second half, but North Dakota scored the next five points to tie the score for the second time before UND'S Carissa Jahner put in the go-ahead layup to give the Sioux their first lead of the contest.
But All-Region senior guard Jennifer Pozzani (Beloit, Wis.) answered with a three to put the Bears back on top and quiet the rowdy Sioux crowd.
The Bears and Sioux went scoreless for the next 2:11. But Gill broke the scoreless streak with a pair of free throws and later had a steal and a breakaway layup to put Concordia up 55-49 with 10:28 remaining.
UND clawed back and retook the lead for the second time at 67-66 with 3:30 remaining. The teams went back and forth the rest of the way, and junior Ashley Smith's (Cottage Grove, Minn.) clutch defense in the final minute on Boese helped Concordia hold their late lead. The Bears survived a last-second open jumper by Boese to come away with the victory.
Carlisle and senior forward Carly Christensen (Elk River, Minn.) willed the Bears to victory. Carlisle ended up with a career-high 26 points in 38 minutes of play, while C. Christensen had 18 points and nine rebounds while playing solid defense against UND's Ashley Langen.
Pozzani was just a point shy of her first double-double of the season, scoring nine points and nabbing a game-high 10 rebounds.
Boese finished with 21 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists for the Sioux, while Langen had 17 points and six rebounds. Senior point guard Amy Mahlum, who missed her first six shots, rallied the Sioux late, hitting three consecutive threes and knocking down a free throw. She finished with 10 points.
The Golden Bears avenged last season's loss in the semifinals, when they fell at home to South Dakota State. However, they still have one more hurdle before advancing to the Elite Eight in Hot Springs, Ark.
