Concordia university (3-7) sprinted out to a 35-12 halftime lead, holding the indians to a sparse 11.1% (3-27) shooting pct. In the second half, the golden bears shot 70.0% (14-20) from the field to bury catawba (n.c.) college (8-2) 76-60 on late tuesday evening at the hoop n surf classic in honolulu, hawaii.

junior center amanda behnke dominated, hitting the 20-point barrier for the third consecutive game and notching her third double-double of the season with 22 points and 11 rebounds on 9-17 shooting while adding two steals.

catawba scored first, sinking a free throw at 18:58 but behnke converted a jumper 14 seconds later to give the bears the lead for good.

leading 4-3 early, the golden bears decided to go on a 20-0 run over a 5:19 span in the first half to take control of the contest. Catawba ended the run with a free throw but the bears continued to extend their lead thanks to their strong defense.

the bears largest lead of the game came with 6:04 to play in the first half when concordia led 32-5, a 27 point margin as their defense shut down catawba to only one field goal in the first 16:05 of the first half.

the bear defense held catawba without a field goal for a 13:54 span as catawba went into the locker room with just three made field goals as a three-pointer with 2:27 to play finally put them in double-figures.

concordia went into halftime on a shooting drought as well, converting their last field goal at 3:46 when behnke's layup extended the lead to 35-9.

at the break, behnke led all scorers with 15 points and seven rebounds on 6-11 shooting. Junior point guard katie laviolette had four points, four rebounds and five assists along with a pair of steals.

concordia forced 15 indian turnovers in the first half, leading to an 18-2 advantage in points off turnovers. Concordia also held a 26-2 edge in points in the paint and 9-0 in second chance points. Concordia outrebounded the indians 27-18 in the opening 20 minutes.

in the second half, the teams played evenly until catawba cut into a 63-39 golden bear lead by using a 9-0 run to cut the score to a 15 point margin, 63-48 with 4:32 to play. But the indians would get no closer than a 13 point deficit as concordia held off the top team receiving votes for the top 25 with fierce 70.0% second half shooting.

laviolette had another solid performance running the floor for the bears, scoring 13 points while adding seven rebounds, seven assists and two steals. The northern sun assist leader committed just two turnovers and shot 4-7 from the field, connecting on her only three-point attempt and nabbing a pair of steals.

the only other bear to reach double-figures was junior guard kelly lund, who scored 11 points on 5-9 shooting and contributed three rebounds. Sophomore forward candace olstad poured in eight points, three rebounds, a block and an assist.

lindsey palmer led concordia's bench by knocking down a pair of three's off the bench to finish with six points, four rebounds and two assists. whitney smetana had five points off the bench while collecting three rebounds. The nsic block leader added two more blocks, giving her 21 for the season.

freshman jamie jones nearly matched laviolette's assist mark by notching six while scoring three points and producing a team-high three steals.

the golden bears finished the game shooting a season-best 53.7% (29-54) while outrebounding the indians 44-40 and cruised to the win despite committing 25 turnovers as they forced 20 on defense.

concordia returns to action this evening when they take on the second team receiving votes for the top 25, holy family (penn.) university at 12:00 a.m. Central time.