the concordia womenrsquo;s basketball team (11-4, 3-0 nsic) earned a 61-53 win over southwest minnesota state (3-11, 0-3 nsic) friday night in marshall. Senior nakia carlisle scored a game-high 21 points.

after missing all but three minutes of the last three games with an ankle injury, carlisle scored 15 points in the second half and shot 8-12 (.667) from the field and 5-6 (.833) from the free throw line in leading the bears to the win. She also had two assists, three steals and two rebounds in the game.

the bears jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first four minutes and pushed the lead to 9 at 13-4 with 12:26 remaining in the first half after a three-pointer by sophomore lindsey palmer. The mustangs scored the next six points to cut the lead to 13-10 with 11:32.

concordia would push the lead back to six at 18-2 on a layup by sophomore katie laviolette, buth the mustangs would answer and take the lead from concordia at 19-18 with 6:16 remaining in the first half. They would push the lead to 23-20, but freshman stephanie westman would score four straight for the bears and time the game at 26-26 with 2:28 to play in the first half. With smsu leading 30-26, senior ashley smith hit a three-pointer with :02 remaining in the first half to cut the lead to 30-29.

the bears would score the first six points of the second half and lead 35-31 with 15:01 to play after a pair of free throws by junior janine kuklis (right). They would increase the lead to as many as eight at 42-34 with 11:56 to play, but smsu would chip-away and cut the lead to 46-44 with 5:23 to play. Sophomore amanda behnke would get fouled making a layup with 4:53 to play and complete the three-point play to give the bears a 49-44 lead.

concordiarsquo;s last field goal of the game would come at 4:04 on a layup by smith and southwest mn state would make their last field goal at 3:10 to cut the lead to 51-48. The last 3:10 would be a battle of free throws.

concordia would make 12-15 free throws in the final minutes to seal the win, while smsu would score their last five points from the line. For the game, concordia shot only 19-58 (32.8%) and 4-17 (23.5%) from three point range. They would convert 19-29 (65.5%) from the free throw line. The bears defense would hold smsu to 16-49 (32.7%) from the field. Concordia would outrebound smsu 42-40 for the game.

kuklis would lead the bears with nine rebounds, to go along with seven points. Behnke was the only other bear in double-figures with 11 points and six rebounds. Smith finished with nine points, six rebounds and four steals.

the bears will travel to nsic leader wayne state on saturday before returning home next weekend against msu moorhead on friday night.