Fifth-ranked concordia university (28-3) was outscored 19-6 in second chance points as the golden bears were upset by minnesota state university (22-8) 73-70 at the dakotadome in the first round of the ncaa north central regional tournament in vermillion, s.d. Hosted by the university of south dakota.

after going into the locker room down by seven, 39-32, senior point guard katie laviolette (manitowoc, wis.) put in a lay-up just over a minute into the second half to cut the gap to five. She finished the night with 23 points, eight assists and six rebounds while shooting 11-19 from the floor to lead concordia.

“the players knew what they needed to do, they knew they weren’t good in the first half and we got outworked, said concordia head coach paul fessler.

but after the laviolette bucket, msu would score the next seven points to take a 46-34 lead just over a minute and a half later.

the lead stayed between seven and 12 points until candace olstad (jr., f, elgin, minn.) converted a lay-up at 5:47 to cut the gap to five, 63-58.

the mavericks pulled the lead back to nine moments later and continued to hold their lead at nine, 71-62 with 3:20 to play.

the golden bears finally made their run, as c.olstad delivered a three-point play, laviolette added a lay-up and c.olstad scored again on a pass from laviolette to cap a 9-0 run to bring concordia back within two, 71-69 with 1:18 remaining.

c.olstad scored five her 13 points in the 9-0 run and added four rebounds, two assists and two blocks to her game totals.

on the ensuing possession, msu's heather johnson misfired on a jumper with laviolette dashing out with the long rebound. Her off-balance lay-up on the fast break was off the mark and msu secured the rebound.

flecia foster hit a pair of free throws for the mavericks and senior center amanda behnke (eagan, minn.) made one of two at the other end to cut the margin to three, 73-70. Behnke notched her 11th double-double wiht 13 points and 10 rebounds in the game.

after fouling johnson of msu on an apparent steal by c.olstad, the mavericks' leading scorer missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 00:23 to play, giving concordia a second chance in the closing seconds.

concordia had two three-point attempts in the last seven seconds with laviolette misfiring at seven seconds and kali olstad (so., g, elgin, minn.) missing with two seconds after laviolette grabbed the offensive rebound and kicked it out.

k.olstad, who buried six three-pointers in last year's first round win over south dakota, was 0-4 from three-point range this afternoon while c.olstad was 0-5 from downtown.

the olstad sisters' misfortunes from three-point distance summed up what happened to concordia, as the team was just 6-24 (25.0%) from behind the arc. The finish to the season didn't mirror how concordia shot on the season, as they entered the game with the third ranked three-point shooters in the nation at 41.2%.

the golden bears got on the scoreboard first on a three point field goal by senior guard kelly lund (new brighton, mn) just fifteen seconds into the game, but it would not be a sign of what was to come for the long range shooting.

lund would finish with 10 points, scoring seven after the break, playing 17 minutes after sitting most of the first half after miscues put her on the bench after playing just two of the opening 20 minutes.

the two teams would trade the lead nine times, with one tie in the first half with concordia holding its largest lead of 19-14 at 11:27 and would hold their last lead of the game at 25-24 with 6:42 left in the first half.

minnesota state held their largest lead of the first half of seven points three times in the last 2:22, including the 39-32 halftime margin.

the mavericks held a 23-17 advantage on the boards in the first half, including ten offensive rebounds, leading to a 13-0 advantage on second chance points in the opening frame. Msu also converted seven concordia turnovers in the first half into a 9-0 advantage on fast break points.

"(minnesota state) mankato hit some good shots, we weren’t bad defensively. We weren’t as relaxed as i thought we’d be. We didn’t get as comfortable at any point in time and that has a lot to do with (minnesota state) mankato, we couldn’t get into a rhythm," fessler continued.

“we thought we could come back from anything, we knew we could come back and at the end of the game we were right there, just couldn’t get over the top,� said laviolette.

“it’s been a pretty special season, in the locker room i told them i wouldn’t trade them as teammates for anything, we’ve had so much fun together.�

another key to the game was concordia’s inability to get to the free throw line as they attempted a season-low nine free throws and tied a season-low, making only six.

in the two team’s previous meeting on december 18th, a 76-64 win for concordia, the golden bears were 20-27 from the charity stripe.

“we lost the game at the free throw line,â€? said coach fessler. €œwe get to the line more than nine times a game.â€?

concordia finished the night making 29-65 (44.6%) from the field, while the mavericks converted 26-66 (39.4%). Minnesota state was also 6-13 (46.2%) from three point range and 15-18 (83.3%) from the free throw line.

on the night, concordia was outrebounded 43-37, marking only the sixth time this season the golden bears lost the battle on the boards.

heather johnson paced the mavericks with 19 points. She hit on 7-14 from the field and was 4-5 from behind the arc. Alex andrews recorded a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds. She was 6-of-13 from the field. Joanne noreen also added 17 points for msu.

concordia's bench managed only six points, all coming from junior guard te'aira small (chicago, ill.) woh drilled a pair of three-pointers. She also grabbed six rebounds in 16 minutes.

minnesota state, mankato will now face seventh-seed wayne state, who defeated second-seeded #6 north dakota 85-78 in the first upset of the day on saturday at 4:00 in the round of 32.

box score - minnesota state 73, concordia 70

notes:

amanda behnke, katie laviolette, megan kirchenwitz, whitney smetana, kelly lund and mary schroeder all conclude their concordia careers with the loss. Cu went 95-31 over the last four years.

the golden bears finish with 28 wins, tied with the 2003-04 season for most wins in school history.

their 18-0 start was the best in school history and the longest winning streak, breaking the 2003-04 team's 16 game streak.

amanda behnke finishes her career with 1,423 points, which is seventh best in school history (all-time). She also had 726 career rebounds, good for second most in school history (division ii-era).

katie laviolette finishes her career with a school-record 775 assists, which is tied for ninth-best in ncaa dii history. She also scored 1082 points, which is 17th most in school history. She is the 7th-known player with at least 1,000 points, 700 assists and 400 rebounds (453 rebounds).

this is only the second time in six tries that the golden bears have been eliminated in the opening round of the ncaa tournament. The other was in 2002-03, a 83-68 loss to south dakota in their first trip to the ncaa tournament.

two players, behnke and laviolette, reached the 1,000 point milestone during the season. The next closest player is candace olstad with 826 with her senior season coming in 2008-09.

check back for a complete season game note recap in the coming weeks.