Concordia university (22-10) fell 92-89 in a dramatic overtime game to nebraska-kearney (22-9) in the ncaa north central regional semifinal round at the betty engelstad sioux center in grand forks, n.d. The golden bears were led by nsic player of the year amanda behnke, who poured in career-highs of 30 points and 21 rebounds in 43 minutes.

nebraska-kearney used a jamie edwards three-pointer early in the extra session and she added a layup with under a minute to play to help sink concordia.

behnke, who finished regulation 8-10 at the foul line, was 0-4 from the stripe in the overtime period.

concordia trailed by as much as five, 89-84 with 1:07 to play but a three-point play by junior point guard katie laviolette cut the gap to two at the 1:01 mark. Laviolette finished with a career-high 23 points and had eight assists.

concordia again would pull within two when sophomore forward candace olstad put in a layup to make it 91-89 on a pass from laviolette.

with a ten second differential between the shot clock and game clock, unk committed a turnover with 24 seconds to play giving concordia a chance to tie or take the lead.

but laviolette's pull up jumper from seven feet out was blocked and unk's megan becker hit one of two at the line to put the lopers up three with 11 seconds to play.

concordia had a last second shot by sophomore forward abby nielsen that sailed off the rim as the buzzer rang for a final time on the bears in the 2006-07 season.

the sixth-seeded bears trailed throughout the contest as the seventh-seeded lopers led by as much as 11 points, 63-52 with 11:25 to play.

but the bears stormed back, cutting the loper lead to seven, 69-62 just over three minutes later.

that is when they mounted their largest run of the contest, a 9-1 spurt in a three minute span that gave them their first lead of the game, 71-70 with 5:04 to play after junior kelly lund converted a layup.

the lopers would reclaim a 73-71 lead until behnke dropped in a pair of free throws and then hit a jumper in the paint with 2:47 to play to give concordia a 75-73 edge.

after a unk basket, laviolette found herself wide open on the right wing and buried a three-pointer to give concordia their largest lead of the night.

the lopers responded with a three by liz fischer, who was fouled on the play. Fischer completed the four point play for four of her 26 points before fouling out just 35 seconds later.

fischer's four point play put nebraska-kearney back in the lead, 79-78 with 56 seconds to play but behnke resonded again with a jumper in the lane just 17 seconds later.

the lopers would commit a costly turnover with 21 seconds left when fischer fouled out and laviolette delivered a pair of free throws to put concordia back on top by three, 82-79 with just 20 seconds to play.

the lopers would spend nearly the rest of regulation searching for an open three when melissa hinckley picked the most opportunistic time to bury a wide open three to knot the score at 82 with only four seconds remaining. It was just hinckley's eleventh three-pointer on the year in 48 attempts.

laviolette dribbled through the unk press and had a good look at a three pointer at the top of the key as time expired, but it drew the back of the rim sending the game into overtime.

the biggest dagger for the golden bears was nebraska-kearney's ability to capitalize on their turnovers. Unk forced 17 cu turnovers while committing just 11, leading to a 26-8 deficit in points off turnovers.

as a team, concordia entered the tournament third in the nation in turnovers per game, averaging just 11 per outing.

the bears edged the lopers from the floor, hitting 50.0% (33-66) while unk finished at 49.3% (34-69). But the lopers converted 45.0% (9-20) from behind the arc while concordia was unable to replicate their success from a night ago, hitting just 7-21 (33.3%) from long range.

c.olstad was the only other bear besides laviolette and behnke to reach double-figures, scoring 11 points on 5-7 shooting along with six rebounds and three steals.

behnke finished 11-19 from the floor and 8-14 at the line. She also had four assists and six of her 15 rebounds were on the offensive glass.

behnke's rebounding led a concordia team that outrebounded a loper squad who specializes in rebounding, specifically offensive rebounding. Unk came into the game with nearly 200 more offensive rebounds than their opponents, but the golden bears held an 11-9 edge on the offensive glass and a 45-36 margin in total rebounds.

the bears, led by laviolette, also held a 20-13 lead in assists. Laviolette finished 8-16 from the floor, 2-5 from three-point range and 5-5 at the line. She played all 45 minutes for the bears.

concordia, with no seniors on the roster, finished their season with their sixth-straight 20-plus win season, reached the ncaa tournament for the fifth consecutive season and have made the regional in all five years of their eligibility for the big dance.

it was also the fourth consecutive appearance in the semifinals for concordia, who is now 5-5 all-time in the ncaa tournament.

the bears closed out the season winning 20 of their last 23 games, winning their second nsic regular season and tournament championships in school history.