senior point guard katie laviolette (manitowoc, wis.) scored the last 10 points for #6 concordia university (28-2) to help the golden bears fend off the no. 2 seed wayne state (21-9) on saturday evening to capture the 2008 nsic women's basketball tournament championship at the gangelhoff center.

box score - cu 70, wayne state 65

the tournament title is concordia's third and second in a row, also capturing the tournament crown in 2005. They have now successfully repeated as nsic regular season and tournament champions and have posted the best record in school history through 30 games, one game better than the 2003-04 team.

their ncaa tournament streak has also been extended to six straight appearances (in six years of eligibility) as they receive the northern sun's automatic bid with the tournament championship.

leading by seven, laviolette converted a three-point play to put the golden bears up by 10, 63-53 with 1:53 to play. She went on to convert 8-9 from the stripe in the final two minutes and finished the night with 21 points, nine assists and five rebounds. Her 12-13 shooting at the foul line helped her take home nsic tournament most outstanding player honors for the second consecutive season.

the game was close throughout but concordia took their largest lead of 12 points after two laviolette free throws at 1:04 and again at :36 to play in the game. Wayne state made a late attempt at a rally, scoring eight unanswered in the final :36 but their final three-pointer by jennifer yee when through the net with :04 on the clock with the deficit at four, 69-65 before laviolette iced the game with a free throw.

concordia led for much of the first half, going on a 9-0 spurt to take a 17-7 lead at the 11:32 mark when senior guard kelly lund (new brighton, minn.) hit a jumper.

the wildcats clawed their way back, cutting the lead back to four on two occasions, even trimming the gap to two, 29-27 with 2:01 to play until the break.

nearly two minutes later, neither team managed to put a point on the board until laviolette sank a three-pointer with six seconds left to put concordia ahead by five, 32-27.

junior forward candace olstad (elgin, minn.) led the golden bears in the opening frame with 12 points, shooting 5-10 from the field and 2-4 from behind the arc. She finished the game with 19 points and seven rebounds while hitting 3-6 from three-point range. She was named to the nsic all-tournament team for her performance.

in the second half, concordia led by at least four points until wayne state's laquisha cook converted a lay-up at 10:19 to cut the lead to three.

after a mara hjelle lay-up, wildcat senior kylee mcgill put down a jumper to cap off an 8-0 run to give wayne state their first lead since scoring the first field goal 11 seconds into the game.

that's where concordia proved their standing as the no. 2 three-point shooting team in the nation, as c.olstad delivered to put cu back in front by two.

two more free throws by cook for the wildcats cut the deficit back to two moments later, 52-50 with just over five minutes to play.

after a missed jumper by c.olstad, lund scooped up the rebound and kicked it out to sophomore guard jamie jones (mounds view, minn.) who dropped another devastating three-pointer on wayne state, extending concordia's lead back to five, 55-50.

on the defensive end, teresa case missed a jumper with rebound caroming out to jones at the top of the key. Jones ran the distance for a lay-up to give concordia a 57-50 lead with 4:06 left - a single-handed 5-0 run.

but wayne state would not be buried as andrea schoepf pulled out a three-pointer of her own to bring the game back to four with just under three minutes to go.

the third part of concordia's three-point barrage was in response to schoepf's three-pointer with lund coming up big this time, putting the lead back to seven to set up laviolette to score the final 10 points.

lund finished the game 6-10 from the floor, scoring 15 points. She hit 3-5 from three-point range and was concordia's third selection to the nsic all-tournament team.

concordia held on for the win despite being outscored 22-0 on the bench and 34-24 in the paint.

they hit 44.4% (8-18) from three-point range while limiting the wildcats to 28.6% (4-14) long range shooting.

concordia's five starters all played at least 29 minutes while laviolette is the only player on the team averaging at least that much playing time throughout the season.

senior center amanda behnke (eagan, minn.) led concordia's rebounding effort, which was an even 40-40 split with the wildcats, with 11 rebounds. She had five offensive rebounds and scored eight points.

jones, making her second start of the season, scored seven points, had four rebounds and four steals and had a pair of assists.

wayne state had four players reach double-figures led by cook's 14 points while mcgill notched a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Yee and hjelle each scored 11 off the bench for wsc.

also making an impact was freshman jodie boss, who recorded a wayne state record 10 blocked shots in the 78-77 concordia win earlier this season. Tonight, boss, the nsic co-newcomer of the year, had eight points, nine rebounds and four blocks and was named to the nsic all-tournament team along with mcgill.

concordia has now won 48 of 53 games and will await their seeding in the ncaa tournament. The ncaa selection show will be aired at 9:30 p.m. On sunday, march 9 at www.ncaasports.com.

2008 nsic women's basketball all-tournament team
kylee mcgill, wayne state
jodie boss, wayne state
candace olstad, concordia
kelly lund, concordia
most outstanding player - katie laviolette, concordia