#6 concordia university (19-1, 10-1 nsic) overcame an 11 point first half deficit by shooting 63.0% (17-27) in the second half as they defeated bemidji state (10-11, 6-6 nsic) 87-74 at bsu gymnasium in bemidji, minn.

senior center amanda behnke (eagan, minn.) led concordia with 27 points and 10 rebounds, shooting 10-13 from the field and 7-10 at the line. Her performance was dominant in the second half, making all six of her shots to score 16 of her points while collecting six of her rebounds.

bemidji state started the game with the first seven points in just 1:41 of duration. The slow start for cu echoed their previous outing when they fell behind by seven out of the gate to msu moorhead last saturday in their first loss of the season.

the beavers extended the lead to 11 twice in the first half, 23-12 with 14:46 and 28-17 with 11:05.

that was their largest lead as the golden bears began chipping away at the lead when senior megan kirchenwitz (oconomowoc, wis.) came off the bench to hit a three-pointer. She finished with a season-high eight points in 11 minutes, hitting 3-4 from the field and 2-3 from behind the arc.

minutes later, junior forward candace olstad (elgin, minn.) took over with five consecutive points to cap a 9-1 run to tie the score at 32 with just under five minutes until the intermission.

c.olstad scored 15 in the first half on perfect 5-5 shooting including hitting all three of her three-pointers and 2-3 at the line. After being held scoreless in the second half, she finished with 15 points and six rebounds.

after a minute and a half of scoreless play, junior forward te'aira small (chicago, ill.) put in a pair of free throws to give concordia their first lead, 34-32.

the two teams battled back and forth in the first half, each leading by three points before settling with a knotted halftime score at 41.

the golden bears scored the first six points of the second half as behnke put in a pair of lay-ups while senior point guard katie laviolette (manitowoc, wis.) added a third to give concordia their largest lead at the time of six points, 47-41.

laviolette finished with 10 assists and surpassed susan anderson (1998-2001) of minnesota duluth for the most career assists by a player from the northern sun. Anderson had 670 assists in 119 career games while laviolette moves up to 675 in her 110th game. Laviolette is now 18th in ncaa division ii history in career assists. She also scored six points and had six rebounds.

concordia continued to slowly build their lead up into double-figures when junior forward abby nielsen (maplewood, minn.) buried a three-pointer at the 11:41 mark to put cu ahead 56-46.

just as c.olstad was lethal from long range in the first half, nielsen would provide the same spark in the second half for the golden bears, hitting 3-4 from behind the arc and 4-5 from the floor to score 11 points.

after bsu narrowed the margin back to seven after karlee simonson scored three unanswered points, nielsen would deliver another three-point blow to bemidji state to put the deficit back to double-figures for good with 9:41 to play, 61-51.

concordia led by as much as 18, 78-60 with 3:37 remaining as they returned to the win column.

for the game, the golden bears shot 54.4% (31-57) from the floor and buried 10 three-pointers at a 47.6% clip. They out rebounded bsu 47-34 and held the beavers to 34.8% (23-66) shooting in the contest, including a dismal 3-12 effort from three-point territory in the second half.

the concordia bench tallied 34 points to bemidji state's eight and cu used a 36-14 deficit in the paint. The beavers' bench shot just 15.8% (3-19) in the contest.

bemidji state was led by simonson who had 17 points and nine rebounds. Four of bsu's five starters reached double-figures with the other, stephanie peterson, scoring eight.

amy lawson, who entered the game an assist per game behind laviolette for the northern sun lead, dished out seven - her season average, while scoring 12 points.

behnke's 27 points solidified her lead for the nsic scoring title and raises her average to 18.1 per game.

concordia now has a three game lead in the nsic standings as wayne state and u-mary each lost tonight. The golden bears face minnesota, crookston tomorrow evening in crookston at 6 p.m. As they continue to defend their nsic regular season title.

box score - cu 87, bemidji state 74