bemidji, minn. - the 23rd-ranked golden bears shot their way to an 80-62 win over bemidji state (11-10, 5-9 nsic) on the road friday night, hitting 57.4% of their field goals. With their second best team shooting average of the season, the golden bears (17-4, 11-3 nsic) reclaim sole possession of the nsic lead for at least one night, putting up a half game lead over augustana college, who was not in play tonight. Guards maurika hickman and jamie jones combined for 12-of-16 shooting from the field and 13-of-13 free throws in the win. Concordia plays at minnesota duluth on saturday evening. box score
hickman (jr., minneapolis, minn.) and jones (sr., mounds view, minn.) each put up 12 points in a huge 49-30 first half. Hickman pushed the beavers off of the bounce, drawing plenty of fouls and getting to the free throw line eight times in the half. She hit all eight of her freebie shots. kali olstad (g, sr., elgin, minn.) also gave concordia a big boost in the half, sinking 3-of-4 three-pointers for nine points and also pulling down six defensive rebounds.
the golden bears had the beavers sunk from the beginning, hitting every one of their first six field goals, including two three-pointers and a hickman three-point play to go up 15-7 in just over three minutes of action. Long range shots from jones and olstad maintained the double figure lead for cu and a rash of buckets in the final three minutes pushed the score up to 49-30. The golden bears shot 60.7% from the field in the period and out-rebounded bemidji state 20-12.
the youthful beaver squad hushed the golden bears through much of the second period, putting up a defensive pressure that forced 14 turnovers. But to bemidji's disappointment, poor shooting held off a bsu advance nearly every time that they gained an advantage from a cu turnover.
the closest the scoring margin got in the second half was 18 points, reached early in the period and again just before the buzzer. Hickman single-handedly gave her team an offensive boost the first time the beavers showed aggression, first canning a shot from three-point range and then playing out an old-fashioned three-point play to maintain a 62-38 lead. Jones then stepped in with a layup to give concordia its largest lead of the game, 64-38 at the 13:09 mark. The golden bears fended off their turnover problems with continued shooting success, hitting 52.6% in the second period as they took the 80-62 win.
hickman finished with a game high 22 points for cu, sinking 6-of-9 field goals and 9-of-9 free throws. Hickman came into the game ranked 3rd in the nation in free throw shooting and boosted her season average to 91.8%. Jones was 6-of-7 from the field, including 3-of-3 from three-point range, and finished with 19 points and three rebounds. Olstad posted a 12-point, 10-rebound double double with all 10 boards coming off of the defensive glass. She also had three steals and two assists. gillian bjerke (c, sr., detroit lakes, minn.) did her part with nine boards on the evening. She also hit four of her five field goal chances for eight points and had three assists and two blocked shots.
bemidji state was paced by taylor davis and jessie althoff in the game, combining for 21 points but hitting just 8-of-22 field goals. The entire team struggled in their accuracy and finished with a low 33.9% shooting average. They were also out-worked on the glass 37-27.
