st. Paul, minn. - sorry minnesota fans, is it too early? well tonight's game was basketball, this #4 was concordia's zoraa quoie and the vikings belonged to south dakota's augustana college. In a game that decided who the new nsic leader was, the golden bears (16-3, 10-2 nsic) shot their way to an 84-71 win over augustana college (15-4, 9-3 nsic) to regain their lead in the conference. Quoie led cu with 19 points, five boards, four assists and two steals in the concordia win. The golden bears shot 50.9% from the field and was just two three-pointers shy of the school's single game record, hitting 14 in the game. box score
the vikings, who lead the nsic in threes per game, had the concordia defense dialed in to start the game, snapping off a three-pointer off of the tip, using their first possession to match the number of threes they made in the first meeting of the teams. Concordia's jamie jones (g, sr., mounds view, minn.) canned a triple for cu's first bucket, setting the tone for the game that would split the top teams in the league.
three-point shooting indeed continued to play a key role in the game. Trailing by their largest margin in the first half, 13-18, the golden bears took back-to-back threes from jineen williams (jr., g, racine, wis.). The golden bears finished with a season high 14 made triples, including a team high four from quoie (g, jr., woodbury, minn.). The vikings, on the other hand, hit just 6-of-20 threes in the decision.
concordia's real first half swing came in the final five minutes of the game as cu got out to defend augustana guards and force augie posts to take looks at the basket, which they more often than not missed. The golden bears ended the half with a 14-5 run, jump-started with a kali olstad (g, sr., elgin, minn.) three-pointer and fueled by free throws, threes and steals from quoie.
with 10 made shots from long range and a 55.6% shooting average, the golden bears walked into the break with a 51-39 lead. They moved the ball well around an augustana zone defense, assisting every one of their 15 first half field goals and a final 26 assists in the game, matching a season high. gillian bjerke (c, sr., detroit lakes, minn.) made herself available throughout the contest, receiving dishes and dumps on her way to 17 relatively easy points, shooting 8-of-11 from the field.
the vikings were forced to continue pumping the ball into their post players as the second half resumed. Forward alex feeney was the first half scoring leader and opposing forward/guard kristi board took over in the second half, but regardless of what player was scoring, it was almost never an outside shooter.
on the other hand, the golden bears continued to jack up the three-point shot, breaking out of an early slumber to spread out a meaningful lead in the final ten minutes of play.
quoie's fourth three-pointer of the game kicked off a 16-4 run that moved concordia from a five-point lead to a 17-point advantage by the 2:51 mark, largely putting the game out of augustana's reach. chanica hall (g, sr., minneapolis, minn.) dropped in back-to-back triples during the stretch. The lead was their largest in the game and plenty to secure a win with a final score of 84-71.
quoie's 19 points was one of four double figure scoring performances, followed by bjerke's 17 points and team high nine boards, 15 points from williams and 10 from maurika hickman (g, jr., minneapolis, minn.). Hall matched a season high seven assists in the win. The golden bears went over the 50% shooting mark for the sixth time this season with a final mark of 50.9%.
the vikings were limited to six three-pointers against concordia, far less than their 9.22 average. The vikings shot 42.1% from the field but turned the ball over 18 times, leading to 18 cu points off of turnovers. Forwards board and feeney were the final scoring leaders with 21 and 18 points each, respectively. Board was true to her name with a team high nine pulls off of the glass.
