minneapolis, minn. - concordia university (5-0, 1-0 nsic) continued their unbeaten start with a 73-62 victory over upper iowa (0-6, 0-1 nsic) in each team's northern sun opener at si melby hall on the campus of augsburg college on friday evening. Concordia led by as much as 26 points and didn't have trouble putting away the peacocks using ball pressure for 15 steals to set up a 22-3 edge in fastbreak scoring. box score

four golden bears reached double-figures led by junior maurika hickman's (minneapolis, minn.) 15 points with five steals and four assists. She converted eight of her nine free throws as concordia reached the line 24 times as a team, hitting 19 of those attempts.

senior gillian bjerke (pelican rapids, minn.) added 10 points and five rebounds but also picked up four steals in the process. Junior jineen williams (racine, wis.) added 14 points as well for concordia.

cu made up for 33.3% second half shooting by dropping 11 of 13 at the stripe and edged uiu in rebounding despite their four guard starting lineup. The golden bears pulled down 42 rebounds to upper iowa's 39. It was a team rebounding effort for concordia with six players pulling in between four and six boards.

there were only two ties and one lead change as concordia led throughout.

upper iowa was led by kenya howard's 13 points and 12 rebounds but she was forced to commit six turnovers. The only other peacock to score 10-plus points was lana otting who had 11 but committed five turnovers of her own. The duo forced up 25 shots in the game, making just eight as a tandem.

senior chanica hall (minneapolis, minn.) led concordia's bench with 10 points and four assists while hauling in five rebounds.

concordia looks for win number six tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. When they return home for a 1:00 tip against winona state, winners at st. Cloud state tonight.