Senior center amanda behnke (eagan, minn.) scored nine of her 23 points in overtime as #3 concordia university (16-0, 7-0 nsic) remained undefeated in a dramatic overtime victory over winona state (12-5, 3-4 nsic) in front of a packed gangelhoff center crowd of 2,463 on saturday evening in st. Paul, minn.

concordia's 16 game win streak ties the school record set in 2003-04. That season, cu lost their first game of the year before blazing to a 16-1 start, finishing 28-4 and hosting the ncaa north central regional.

paul fessler presents laviolette with her commemorative ball

senior point guard katie laviolette (manitowoc, wis.) set concordia's career assist record in the game, finishing with eight to break deb harms' (1983-87) school record of 643. Laviolette now has 648 in her career and 135 on the season.

behnke finished the game 7-13 from the floor and 9-15 from the stripe while adding eight rebounds (five offensive), three blocks and three steals.

in a game with eight ties and 12 lead changes, it was concordia who was seemingly in the driver's seat when behnke grabbed an offensive rebound and converted the put-back with :31 to play.

the bucket gave the golden bears a 70-67 lead and a 7-0 run that spanned over two minutes down the stretch.

but the warriors were patient and molly anderson's pass from the baseline to ana wurtz on the left wing set up the game-tying three-pointer with wurtz converting just over the outstretched arm of jamie jones (so., g, mounds view, minn.).

the three-pointer went in with :10 to play in regulation, knotting the score at 70. On the ensuing possession, jones had a good look at a jumper in the lane with :05 that bounced out of the cylinder.

jones came up big for concordia with 13 points in 29 minutes off the bench. She was 5-10 from the floor and 3-5 from three-point range.

the rebound caromed off multiple golden bears and warriors out to the wing, where kelly lund (sr., g, new brighton, minn.) committed a costly foul with :00.9.

anderson went to the line for the warriors with a one-and-one situation and missed the front end following a concordia timeout, sending the game into overtime after anderson blocked laviolette's full court buzzer beater attempt.

in the overtime, behnke went on a 7-1 run on her own to give the golden bears a 77-71 lead with 2:38 to play.

lutz converted a pair of free throws and candace olstad (jr., f, elgin, minn.) answered with a jumper to keep the deficit at six, 79-73 with just under two minutes.

c.olstad quietly scored 17 points on 5-7 shooting, including a perfect 6-6 at the line and 1-2 from three-point range. She added six rebounds, two blocks, a steal and an assist.

that's when winona state made their run with amanda reimer putting in a lay-up with 1:31 to play.

on concordia's next possession, lund missed a three-pointer deep in the shot clock and committed her fourth personal foul on the defensive end, before being whistled for a technical and fouling out.

the string of events put jenny steffen on the foul line for a pair of technical free throws and a pair of bonus free throws.

she made all four, tying the score at 79 with :53 left in overtime.

but behnke answered once again, getting a tough jumper over a double-team in the paint.

laviolette pumps her fist after the dramatic ot win

she blocked a shot on the defensive end with c.olstad forcing a steal on reimer after the offensive rebound.

a pair of free throws by c.olstad gave concordia a four point lead, 83-79 and the defense forced a missed three-pointer by steffen with :07 left with c.olstad securing the rebound - and the victory.

the largest lead of the game was seven by winona state with 13:05 to play in the second half while concordia's largest lead was by six midway through the first half.

kelly lund's 15 points in the 2nd half propelled cu

despite the costly fouls, lund's offense ignited a cold concordia team in the second half. After an 0-4 first half, lund caught fire, hitting 4-5 from the floor, 3-3 from three-point range and 4-4 at the free throw line for 15 points.

winona state was led by jamie majerowicz, who scored 19 points on 8-9 shooting before fouling out in overtime after 37 minutes of play. Molly anderson, who also fouled out in overtime, had 13 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and four steals.

six players had at least eight points and eight players scored at least six for the warriors in their second straight overtime game. Last night, wsu won in double-overtime at msu moorhead.

despite losing the rebounding battle 40-34, concordia was able to compensate by recording 10 blocked shots to winona state's two. Behnke and senior center whitney smetana (merrifield, minn.) each had three blocks to go with c.olstad's two.

concordia committed just nine turnovers while forcing 18 by the warriors, but they weren't able to capitalize with a slight 19-15 edge in points off turnovers.

cu shot 43.8% (28-64) in the contest while wsu out shot them, hitting 45.2% (28-62) in two fewer attempts. Each team made eight three-pointers, with concordia taking 20 and winona state firing 18.

concordia earned five more trips to the free throw line than wsu with the teams hitting at a similar pct., cu at 76.0% (19-25) to wsu's 75.0% (15-20).

the golden bears return to the road next weekend when they travel to wayne state (wayne, neb.) and southwest minnesota state (marshall, minn.) on jan. 18-19.

photography by justin oakman

box score - cu 83, winona state 79 ot