st. Paul, minn. - the concordia university women's basketball team blew out st. Cloud state in the first game of 2010, 90-61. It was another hot-shooting performance with all members of the squad chipping in to get the team to a 11-1 overall and 5-0 nsic record. The golden bears maintained a double digit lead for all but the first six minutes of the game. box score
concordia had an upper hand in shooting all afternoon, finishing the game with a 53.1% mark, their second highest of the season and fourth time that they went over 50% in a game. Moving the ball well all over the court, the golden bears hit seven of their first nine field goals, including the last six straight, to go up 20-7. jineen williams (jr., g, racine, wis.) started out with the hot hand in the early minutes, but other teammates soon stepped in to cover the scoring all over the floor.
concordia's court vision was in high gear against the huskies. The golden bears dished the ball to open shooters to match a season high 26 assists. Passes to gillian bjerke (sr., c, detroit lakes, minn.) were especially fruitful, leading to 11 points for main post weapon. Cu also executed its press well, forcing turnovers and gaining 19 points off of the fast break. They stretched out the floor in a 15-3 run during four late first half minutes to go up 41-17 with zoraa quoie (jr., g, woodbury, minn.) nabbing one of her game's four steals for a breakaway layup. The golden bears went into the break with a 49-25 lead.
concordia kept its foot on the gas during the second half, leading by as many as 39 points, 74-35, with 10:40 to play. Field goals rained in at a 55.2% rate with hightlight reel passing and tremendous defense. The huskies saw slightly better play from around the floor in the second half, managing to lay in the easy buckets they missed in the first half and also forcing the golden bears into a number of turnovers. Becca friestleben hit all four of her field goal attempts to finish as scsu's leading scorer with 14 points.
the golden bears emptied their bench during the last minutes of play, putting every eligible player on the floor for at least five minutes. They happily walked off the floor with a 90-61 win.
topping the five-player double figure scoring list for concordia was chanica hall (sr., g, minneapolis, minn.) with 14 points and five assists. Williams and maurika hickman (jr., g., minneapolis, minn.) had 13 points and four assists each, while bjerke had 11 points and three assists. jamie jones (sr., g, mounds view, minn.) had a team high five assists.
the 41-32 rebounding edge in favor of concordia was led by a team high six boards from williams and bjerke. The golden bears scored 40 of their points in the paint.
st. Cloud state shot 36.1% from the field in the meeting with the golden bears. They committed 19 turnovers and had just eight assists. Friestleben had a team high 14 points, followed by talisha barlow with 11.
the golden bears continue their successful run at the gangelhoff center next weekend, hosting bemidji state and minnesota duluth on friday and saturday. Both games will tip off at 6:00 pm.
