mankato, minn. - it took an overtime period to seal the 86-77 deal, but the golden bear women's basketball team was not going to have their season end at the hands of minnesota state two years in a row. Concordia (20-11) takes the momentum of a huge win over the ncaa's top-ranked mavericks into the nsic/sanford health basketball tournament semifinals, where they will play augustana college at 5:00 pm on saturday in winona. box score - updated tournament bracket
wednesday's game had several storylines and highlights in addition to defeating the #1 team in the nation. It was the seventh straight postseason appearance for the golden bear women's team and marked the team's eighth straight year of 20 or more wins. The win is head coach paul fessler's 299th career victory and 198th win with concordia.
concordia reached a season high 86 points while holding the mavericks to only 38% shooting. Msu entered the game ranked third in the nation for field goal shooting. Additionally, the loss for msu was just their second of the season (26-2). Their other loss also came in overtime at the hands of augustana. The golden bears never trailed in wednesday's game, allowing just one tie, which sent the game into overtime.
concordia rocketed out to a hot start while minnesota state played lukewarm through much of the game. The golden bears knocked in 9-of-11 three-point shots in dominating the first half. Back-to-back triples from kali olstad and zoraa quoie set the tone of the game and gave cu an 11-6 lead early on. Olstad went on to hit each of her next three long range shots and topped the first half scoring list with 12 points.
not only did the golden bears hit from the outside, they also out-performed the mavericks down low. candace olstad and shandrell duncan combined for 17 points and shot 7-of-13 from the field to help concordia to a 44-34 halftime lead. The team shot 53.3% from the field, while minnesota state shot a mere 37.5% and did not have a player score more than seven points.
the mavericks finally found a way to stifle concordia's shooting midway through the second half and worked on whittling down the cu lead. Joanne noreen went on a 19 point second half scoring spree, hitting 7-of-10 field goals and adding five shots from the free throw line. She personally brought the mavericks back in the game in the final minutes of regulation, scoring 11 of the final 12 msu points and tying the game 67-67 with 35 seconds to play, sending the game into overtime.
having paved so much ground just to get to the nsic tournament and then proving that they could stifle the top team in the nation, the golden bears were not going to allow the win to slip through their hands.
jamie jones knocked down a three-pointer to unknot the tie 30 seconds into overtime and the team never looked back. After scoring only 23 points in the second half, the golden bears out-scored minnesota state 19-10 in overtime, with nine points coming from quoie.
quoie helped guide the golden bears to a chance at another nsic title with 20 points and seven assists. Duncan had her best night as a golden bear, reaching career highs in both scoring and rebounding with a 16 point, 15 rebound double double. She also had five blocked shots. The olstads each finished the night with 15 points and candace pulled down nine rebounds.
concordia finished the game with a 44.4% shooting average. They blocked a season high ten shots while holding minnesota state to just 38% shooting.
noreen caused the only real damage to the golden bears in the opening game of playoffs, finishing with 28 points from 10-of-22 shooting. Three other players had double figures in scoring, but no other player put up more than 12 points on the night. Alex andrews had a double double with ten points and ten rebounds.
