st. Paul, minn. - the downtown lights shone bright as the #22 golden bear women's basketball team out-paced southwest minnesota state 93-69 saturday night at the gangelhoff center in the state's capital city. Senior sharp-shooter kali olstad dropped in six triples for concordia, hitting the momentum-swinging shot every time her team needed it. The win gives cu a season sweep over smsu (15-9, 9-8 nsic), who is still vying for a spot in the nsic tournament. Concordia has a firm hold over the nsic lead with a 14-3 record. With a 20-4 overall record, this marks the ninth straight season that head coach paul fessler has guided the cu squad to 20 or more wins. box score
the mustangs had it in their game plan to stay on the shirttails of concordia's three-point demon, kali olstad (g, sr., elgin, minn.), but every time that the defense fell short, the ball moved around and allowed olstad to pop off from the distance. She opened the game with a triple to elicit a sharp reminder from the visiting coach about the attention that was to be paid to her. Less than three minutes later, however, olstad hit her second attempt, followed by her third at the 14:34 mark to give cu a 17-8 lead.
but it wasn't solely long range shots that put concordia up by as many as 22 points in the first half. Cu showed the capability to feed forwards for pressured lay-ins and also connect on mid-range jumpers. gillian bjerke (c, sr., detroit lakes, minn.) had a very successful showing in the paint, completing five first half field goals for 11 points. jineen williams (g, jr., racine, wis.) pulled up off the bounce to lead her team with 12 first half points.
the mustangs were out-paced from early on and gave up multiple points in transition. They also had trouble keeping up with cu guards defensively, committing early fouls to send concordia to the stripe. The first big smsu deficit came on the end of an 8-0 concordia run at the 10:17 mark, 27-12. A three-pointer and some defensive stops narrowed the margin to seven points at the eight minute mark, but that would be the closest the mustangs would get in the game, with cu putting up a 20-point, 52-32 halftime lead and having at least a 19-point cushion the rest of the way.
the golden bears, who shot 58.8% from the field in the first half, hit 51.9% of their shots in the second half for a game total of 55.7%. The mustangs pulled up their game average with a stronger-shooting second half and finished above their season average with a 42.9% game. The rebounding front also went to the golden bears, however, with cu leading 38-31 on the glass. Concordia put in 15 second chance points from their few misses.
just as early three-point shooting dictated the pace of the game in the first half, long range shots fell early in the second period, as well. Olstad and zoraa quoie (g, jr., mounds view, minn.) combined for a trio of shots beyond the arc, counting for nine of cu's first 16 points. The mustangs' tori fink took over the scoring effort with 15 second half points, but with scattered points from her teammates, smsu was unable to close the gap. Concordia went up by a game high 29 points, 68-39, with an olstad triple and finished the decision with the high-scoring 93-69 win.
olstad and bjerke were the team's scoring and rebounding leaders with 18 points each and nine and eight boards, respectively. Olstad's 6-of-10 three-pointers were the only looks she took from the field. Bjerke's 8-of-13 night from the field was a pleasant sight for the golden bears, allowing teammates to rack up assists with her finishes. maurika hickman (g, jr., minneapolis, minn.) dished a team high seven assists with the squad finishing with 22 on the night. Williams had 16 points and quoie had 10.
the mustangs saw the majority of their points come from a few players, five of whom finished in double figures. Fink led smsu with 16. Laura kramer was the strongest post presence in the game, finishing with 12 points and nine boards. Megan stadler, a national leader for assists, had eight in the game. The mustangs were forced into an uncharacteristic 17 turnovers.
