marshall, minn. - four players scored in double-figures as concordia university (16-11, 8-9 nsic) pulled off a road victory, 81-72 at southwest minnesota state (12-15, 4-13 nsic) on saturday evening at the r/a facility. Concordia drained 9-20 from three-point range and hit 20-28 at the foul line on the road with junior gillian bjerke leading the club with 16 points. box score

with the win, the golden bears win their third out of their last four games and are a half game behind eighth place u-mary and northern state, who are tied at 8-8.

a three-pointer by freshman stacy mammel gave cu a large lead early, 31-15 with 7:25 to play, but the mustangs came back strong to force a score of 38-31 at halftime.

mammel's three was one of seven hit by cu in the opening half as they were seeking their first road win since their 85-71 win at bemidji state on january 9.

smsu just wouldn't go away in the second half, but they were not able to convert the big shot, either, as concordia's lead never shrunk smaller than five points in the final 20 minutes.

freshman guard kelly supernaw was just a rebound shy of the game's only double-double, finishing with 10 points and nine rebounds. shandrell duncan added 12 points and six rebounds while zoraa quoie had 11 points, six rebounds and three assists in only 18 minutes of action while converting seven of eight at the stripe.

ten players scored for the golden bears, eight of them scoring at least five.

smsu was led by sara leidall's 19 points and seven rebounds.

concordia's win puts them back within reach of the top-eight in the northern sun. The top eight teams in the final standings compete in the nsic tournament with the nsic tournament champion receiving an automatic bid to the ncaa central regional tournament.