st. Paul, minn. - concordia university used a strong first half to push past winona state in nsic play at the gangelhoff center on saturday afternoon, 77-62. The golden bears are 6-0 on the year and 2-0 in league play. They committed only nine turnovers in the game and scored over half of their points in the paint despite running a four-guard set. box score
ball control was the key to an impressive first half of play for the golden bears. Concordia only turned the ball over four times, while their defense caused enough problems for the warriors to lead to the 38-25 halftime score. Cu took advantage of each of winona's nine turnovers, scoring 20 first half points off of wsu's mistakes.
jineen williams (g, jr., minneapolis, minn. / uw-milwaukee) continued to show off her skills in front of the home crowd, powering her way into the lane for 16 points in the half. She went on to lead cu in scoring with 22 points, but dishing the ball in the second half to put up seven assists in the game. A williams jumper at the six minute mark of the first half gave concordia its first double digit lead, a mark which they did not fall below for the remainder of the afternoon.
both teams shot well from the field, finishing just short of 50% shooting in the game. With few misses to pick up of the glass, cu worked hard to get every chance that they could, out-rebounding wsu 33-28. As they have shown in the first five games of the year, offensive boards would come in handy. Cu grabbed 11 boards on offense and 22 on defense.
chanica hall (g, sr., minneapolis, minn. / detroit mercy) picked up where williams left off in the second half, putting in all 10 of her game's points from 4-of-5 shooting. A leading rebounder came from an unlikely source against the warriors, senior guard jamie jones (g, sr., mounds view, minn.), matching kali olstad (g, sr., elgin, minn.) with seven boards.
40 of concordia's points came from inside the lane. The close-range shooting was part of a 47.6% shooting average in the matchup. Eight three-pointers accounted for 21 of the remaining points, with the shots being spread out between five different golden bears. The team also had 14 fast break points.
the warriors had only two players finish in double figures for scoring, forwards michelle mcdonald and natalie gigler each putting in 10 in the game. The warriors played an improved second half and pushed the pace of the game, hitting shots to narrow the game's margin in late. They were down by as many as 21 points in the second half and closed in to a 13 point deficit with a three-pointer around the seven minute mark. They had 16 total turnovers in the matchup.
