#15 concordia university's unbeaten start was in serious jeopardy on saturday evening until senior center amanda behnke (eagan, minn.) put the team on her back down the stretch with 26 points and 18 rebounds to lead the golden bears (7-0, 3-0 nsic) to an 83-77 comeback victory over bemidji state (4-4, 2-2 nsic) at the gangelhoff center.

concordia trailed 70-59 with 7:26 to play in the game but used a 17-2 run over the next five minutes to storm back into the lead, 76-72 with 2:28 remaining.

their lead was never relinquished as they held on for their closest margin of victory all season. Prior to tonight's game, their closest game was a 19 point win over st. Mary's (tx) university, a 91-72 win.

"we needed a game like this tonight," head coach paul fessler commented. "we needed to find out our weaknesses, we needed to overcome adversity and we needed to find a way to win down the stretch."

during concordia's 17-2 run, behnke scored 10 points, making 4-5 from the field and 2-3 at the line. She had three rebounds, two coming on the offensive glass that each led to baskets.

moments after the run, with the golden bears leading by two with under :20 to play, senior point guard katie laviolette (manitowoc, wis.) found behnke in the paint for a layup and a three-point play to give cu a 79-74 lead with just 16.3 seconds to play.

while behnke's play down the stretch elevated the golden bears, it was the team free throw shooting that clinched the win. Concordia finished the game shooting 77.1% (27-35) from the stripe, but converted 11-12 in the final 7:26.

concordia jumped out to an early 5-2 lead but bemidji state would score eight unanswered points to take a 10-5 lead with 16:11 to play in the half.

from there, concordia would take control as they had been accustomed to doing all year, opening up a 24-14 lead after a 19-4 stretch of play that spanned just over six minutes of action.

the lead was extended to 32-20 with 7:47 remaining in the half but a 16-3 bemidji state run gave the beavers a one point lead, which they would carry into halftime, 40-39.

the beavers would dominate the second half, pushing the lead to double-digits for the first time at 60-50 off of a stephanie peterson jumper. Peterson led the beavers with 18 points and also collected eight rebounds.

sophomore guard jamie jones (mounds view, minn.) drilled a three-pointer with 8:52 to play, scoring four unanswered points by herself to cut the lead to six, 64-58.

bsu extended the lead back to 11, 70-59, until behnke took over and carried concordia to victory.

sophomore guard kali olstad's (elgin, minn.) free throws with 3:20 left gave the golden bears their first lead since the 1:38 mark in the first half (39-38).

five players scored in double-figures for concordia, with senior guard kelly lund (new brighton, minn.) scoring 13, jones adding 12 and k.olstad and laviolette each contributing 10.

laviolette also had seven assists and was a perfect 6-6 at the free throw line, as was lund.

concordia shot just 37.9% (25-66) from the floor but held bemidji state to 36.2% (25-69) shooting. Neither team was successful from three-point territory, cu converting 6-22 (27.3%) to bsu's 5-23 (21.7%).

between the two teams, 51 fouls were called, 26 whistled to the beavers, with 64 total free throws attempted.

peterson led four beavers in double-figures while amy lawson contributed 15 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Colleen mckay and heidi matzke each added 10 points.

the golden bears continue to defend their unbeaten start next saturday, december 15 when they open a seven game road stand (one neutral site) at minnesota duluth at 1 p.m.

box score - cu 83, bemidji state 77