st. Paul, minn. - it all came down to five tense final minutes, the game tied up 69-69 and concordia university's possession of league leadership in danger. Behind the school's new ncaa-era single game scoring leader the golden bears played nearly flawlessly down the stretch and battled their way to an 88-82 win over msu moorhead. Junior jineen williams scored 10 of her career high 36 points in the last five minutes to put her name in the golden bear record book. With her record effort, concordia finished the home portion of the regular season with the most intense game played at the gangelhoff center, where they have gone 10-1 this season. Two road games remain up for cu before the postseason begins. box score
the golden bears went 5-of-6 from the field and 11-of-12 from the free throw line in the final five minutes of play to outscore the dragons 19-13 and walk away with the win. The game got progressively heated as time ticked away in the second half, msu moorhead fighting for a home playoff spot in the nsic tournament quarterfinals and concordia battling to take the regular season championship, currently a game and a half ahead of wayne state and augustana college.
to take the series sweep over the dragons, the golden bears took away msum's main strength in rebounding. Concordia came out with a 38-34 lead on the glass, seeing all players on the roster work hard to pull down possessions. Concordia finished with 15 offensive boards to msum's seven and dumped in 18 second chance points to msum's six. In addition to her scoring prowess, jineen williams (g, jr., racine, wis.) also walked away as the team's leading rebounder with eight.
williams made her case as an unstoppable scorer from the beginning of the game, laying in a bucket off of the tip and putting up 10 fast points from 4-of-5 field goals and a set of free throws in less than seven minutes of play before being subbed out. She resumed her scoring spree five seconds after returning to the court and finished the half with 15 points. Another 21 points came in the second half to set williams as concordia's top single game scorer in the ncaa era and the second all-time best mark in school history with her 36 points. Williams was zoned in on mid-range jump shots in the first half and went to attacking the basket despite tough msum defense in the second half.
the cu all-time scoring record was set by jolene bammert in 1984-85 with 42 points against st. Scholastica.
the golden bears gave up a 40-34 halftime lead when the dragons put up nine straight points early in the second half to lead 51-48. Msu moorhead then led the pace of the game until the midpoint of the half, using outstanding shots from their forwards to keep the lead. The golden bears slowly worked their way back into the decision as the dragons were called for multiple fouls. Finding themselves tied up 69-69 with 4:45 to play, the determined fire in williams' eyes burned brighter as she lifted her team to an 81-76 lead nearly on her own.
the final scoring effort to give the team the lead came largely from williams, but a well-rounded defensive and rebounding effort from the entire team was needed to pull away from the dragons' pressure. zoraa quoie (g, jr., woodbury, minn.) gave the team steals and rebounds and finished the pressure-ridden final 30 seconds off with perfect free throw shooting. The dragons had their chances to use fouls to come back but a missed shot here and a lost rebound there were the difference and led to the cu win.
williams finished the night 14-of-21 from the field and 8-of-11 from the stripe, also pulling down the team high eight boards to go with three assists. maurika hickman (g, jr., minneapolis, minn.) hit three important three-point shots and finished with 13 points, while quoie pitched in with 11 points and seven rebounds. The golden bears shot 44.6% from the field and committed just seven turnovers.
just as she did in a december meeting between the teams, forward angie jetvig led her dragon squad in scoring, finishing with 20 points. Fellow forward alison nash-gerlach had 18 points, while gurad krista opheim reeled in 15 thanks to 9-of-10 free throw shooting. Msu moorhead was excellent from the field at 52.6% shooting on the night. They were also careful in handling the ball, turning it over just nine times.
concordia is on the road this wednesday at st. Cloud state and wraps up the regular season next saturday at upper iowa.
