Freshman guard kali olstad drained six second half three-point field goals and finished with a career-high 18 points to lead sixth-seed concordia university (22-9) to an 82-74 win over third-seeded south dakota on friday evening at the betty engelstad sioux center in grand forks, n.d. The win for the golden bears is their fourth-consecutive ncaa north central regional quarterfinal victory.

junior point guard katie laviolette stepped up for the bears, delivering her finest performance in an already storied career. She equaled her career-high of 21 points for the second consecutive game while delivering a career-high 17 assists, shattering her previous high of 14.

the bears fell into a deep hole in the first half as the 22nd-ranked coyotes pounced on the bears for a 24-10 early lead just under eight minutes into the game.

usd started out 7-9 from the floor and 4-5 from three-point range as they built their lead.

but the coyotes, who were intent on taking away concordia's two post players, nsic player of the year amanda behnke (left) and sophomore forward candace olstad, failed to cover the arc as concordia stormed back to hit a season-high 14 three's in the contest.

c.olstad showed off her versatility, stepping back behind the arc to knock down three first half three's while sophomore forward abby nielsen buried two, junior megan kirchenwitz hit one and laviolette added another.

the result was a concordia team that was lights out from downtown in the first half: 8-14 from three-point distance which catapulted them to a 36-31 lead with 1:09 to play in the half.

concordia went into the halftime break leading usd 38-36 after the coyotes rallied with five straight points to knot the score at 36.

the bears weren't finished from long distance, hitting 6-14 from three-point land in the second half with k.olstad going 6-9 from long range to help put usd away.

the second was tight throughout with four ties and four lead changes but concordia held the upper hand for the majority of the final 20 minutes.

usd's last lead was a 60-59 advantage with 6:56 to play but concordia would respond with a pair of three's by the freshman guard from elgin-millville high school, k.olstad, who holds the mshsl career record for three-pointers made (boys and girls).

the coyotes would trim the concordia lead to two on four more occasions but each time concordia would respond by scoring on the offensive end.

concordia would also make their free throws in the clutch to keep usd at bay, hitting 8-8 in the final 1:15 with eight points being the final margin of victory.

in addition to laviolette's 21 points and 17 assists, she also grabbed six rebounds, had four steals and just three turnovers (all in the first 10-plus minutes) while playing all 40 minutes.

k.olstad would finish 6-11 from the field - all from beyond the arc. She also had four rebounds and an assist.

behnke, who was facing fierce double and triple teams from usd all night, still managed 14 points on 7-14 shooting in 36 minutes. Behnke supplemented her scoring with seven rebounds, two assists and two steals in 36 minutes.

concordia finished with a season-high 14 three-pointers in 28 attempts (50.0%) and shot 47.5% (29-61) from the field.

south dakota, meanwhile, started the game hot from long range, hitting four of their first five three-point attempts as they built their 14 point lead. But they would hit just 2-18 the rest of the way to finish a paltry 26.1% (6-23) from three-point range in the loss.

at the line, concordia finished 10-11 (90.9%) while usd wound up hitting 75.0% (18-24).

the coyotes were led by bridget yoerger, who turned in a career-high 30 points and finished with a double-double with 10 rebounds. She was 11-18 from the floor, 1-1 from behind the arc and 7-10 at the line in 37 minutes.

jenna hoffman finished with 14 points and seven rebounds before leaving with an injured ankle with 32 minutes remaining. Shannon daly added 12 points and five rebounds before fouling out in 38 minutes.

the victory for the bears, head coach paul fessler's 150th career win at concordia (seventh season), puts them in the ncaa regional semifinals. They will face the winner of no. 7 nebraska-kearney/no. 2 augustana college at 6:00 p.m.

the red-hot golden bears have won 20 of their last 22 contests and are currently on a five game winning streak.

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