Saint paul, minn. - the home cooking couldn't help the golden bears (0-3) from dropping their third straight game to start the season, falling to northern michigan (3-2) 72-68 in overtime. Cu was led offensively by freshman erica gress, who had 15 points and 12 boards, her first double-double of her young career. She is averaging 15 points per game through three games this season. box score

the golden bears fell behind early as they trailed by nine with 12:44 left in the first half. Cu got within five on a layup by jineen williams but a nmu three extended their lead to eight with 8:40 left in the half. Concordia cut the lead to four with just over six minutes left, yet once again the wildcats came right back and padded their lead to nine at 24-15 with 5:08 left in the half. The golden bears went on a 11-4 run to pull within two at 28-26 with :26 seconds left in the first half. A jumper by nmu's steffani stoeger at the buzzer gave nmu a 30-26 lead at halftime. Freshman jodi batzel led the golden bears in scoring in the first half with five points. Williams had four to lead the scoring off the bench for cu.

as the second half started the wildcats extended their lead to six but a 8-0 run the golden bears gave them their first lead since the first points of the game. Cu held the lead for most of the second half. Their largest lead came with 6:53 left in the game, 50-44. Nmu tied the game at 56 with 1:44 left in the game and neither team was able to find the basket for the rest of regulation. Rachel hansen had seven of her 11 points in the second half to key the golden bears comeback. Gress added six of her 15 in the second half.

in overtime cu took the early lead thanks to back to back free throws by gress. The game stayed within one possession for most of the overtime period. Nmu took their first lead of overtime with 3:34 left, 60-59. The teams traded one point leads back and forth for the next two minutes. Back to back free throws by stoeger gave the wildcats a 66-63 lead with :34 seconds left in overtime. Following a hansen miss, stoeger hit two more free throws to give the wildcats a five point lead with :15 seconds left. Batzel cut the lead to three, but again stoeger hit two free throws to bring the lead back to five with six seconds left. A deep three by hickman cut the lead to two with 1.5 seconds left. Stoeger put the game on ice with two straight free throws made with 00.5 seconds left on the clock.

hickman ended the game with 11 points for concordia. Mandy poke led the golden bears off the bench with seven points a career high. Batzel also had a career high with seven points.

the golden bears are back in action tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. As they take on #14 michigan tech in the finale of the 2010 radisson roseville thanksgiving classic.

photos courtesy of trevor saylor