sioux falls, s.d. - the golden bear women's basketball team shot 45% from the field and showed complete dominance in the paint as they commanded a 95-68 non-conference win over augustana college on saturday night. The game, part of the 2009 nsic holiday hoopsfest, put cu at 3-0 on the year and handed the vikings their first loss at 2-1. Concordia plays the university of mary in another non-conference game tomorrow at 5:00 pm. box score
it took the golden bears a matter of just minutes to go up 10-4 in the game, although the vikings came back to take a small lead for awhile and keep things close for a portion of the first half. Concordia pushed the lead to double figures with a layup from ashley viehauser (f, sr., minneapolis, minn.). Things continued to roll concordia's way as kali olstad (g/f, sr., elgin, minn.) hit a set of free throws and then sunk a three-point shot to give cu a 16-point 38-22 lead.
the golden bears used a strong presence on the boards to stretch out and maintain their lead. They were up 27-18 on the glass in the first half, with gillian bjerke (c, sr., detroit lakes, minn.) giving the team eight boards in the first half and matching olstad with a team high 11 in the game. Concordia had a 57-36 rebounding advantage over the vikings in the game.
while cu's presence down low was easily recognized, it was actually guard play that accounted for the majority of the team's scoring. maurika hickman (g, jr., minneapolis, minn.) dumped in a game high 24 points from 7-of-12 shooting. She hit all eight of her free throw attempts. Guard jamie jones (g, sr., mounds view, minn.) followed with 14 points and had six assists.
concordia's largest lead came late in the second half as the golden bears continued to dump in field goal after field goal. Their fast pace of game gave them plenty of scoring chances and a 31 point advantage, 84-53 at the 5:09 mark of the second half.
the vikings shot 35.5% from the field and were miserable from behind the three-point arc despite their numerous efforts. They connected on just one of 20 three-point shots. The 36-57 rebounding deficit was also crucial to the game's decision. Concordia had a few more turnovers than the vikings (15-13) but overall, it was a clean game.
the golden bears play a final game at the nsic holiday hoopsfest. They will take on the university of mary at 5:00 pm.
