The concordia university women's basketball team (1-0) got off to a hot start, defeating missouri valley college (1-2) 103-54 on friday evening in the wildwood lodge tip-off classic at the gangelhoff center. The vikings scored first and led 3-0, but the golden bears countered with an 18-0 run over the next six-plus minutes and never looked back.

senior center amanda behnke showed why she was tabbed the nsic preseason player of the year, scoring 18 points and grabbing six rebounds in just 17 minutes of action. She was 6-8 from the floor and 6-9 from the line and had a pair of blocks.

behnke wasn't alone in the frontcourt as junior forward candace olstad registered a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds in only 18 minutes. She was 5-8 from the floor, 2-2 from three-point range and 4-5 at the line.

senior point guard katie laviolette directed a concordia offense that shot 53.8% (35-65) for the contest. She dished out seven assists, had four steals and had five rebounds. She scored eight points on efficient 3-5 shooting, connecting on both of her free throw attempts.

the golden bears had five score in double-figures and nine scored at least six. Senior guard kelly lund had 11 points and four assists and drained three three-pointers in 19 minutes while sophomores jamie jones and kali olstad added 15 and 11 points, respectively off the bench, each draining a pair of three's. Jones had four steals while k.olstad added three.

in all, concordia's bench rallied for 48 points on 16-31 shooting. The golden bears also held a 48-18 edge in the paint, 27-13 off turnovers and 16-2 in the fast break.

senior center whitney smetana came off the bench with eight points, six rebounds and three blocks as well.

the vikings were led by bonnie johnson's 11 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots while no other missouri valley player reached double-figures.

there were 56 fouls between the two teams and 64 attempted free throws, where concordia outshot mvc 70.6% (24-34) to 39.3% (11-28).

concordia continues play in the wildwood lodge tip-off classic tomorrow evening when they host northern michigan (0-1) at 6 p.m.

box score - cu 103, missouri valley 54