durango, colo. €" with the nation’s fifth highest scoring offense, the #3-seeded golden bears (25-5) put up an 87-59 win in the central region quarterfinals, knocking #6-seeded adams state college (21-8) out of ncaa tournament play. Concordia took the lead of junior jineen williams, who finished with 32 points. The golden bears played a solid defensive game with 11 steals and forcing 27 grizzlies turnovers. The team advances to the regional semifinals tomorrow night at 6:00 pm (ct) where they will take on csu-pueblo, who defeated #2-seeded wayne state college earlier in the day. box score
"we rebounded well and showed our athleticism, i'm very pleased," said head coach paul fessler. He explained his team's approach to the grizzlies, saying, "our defense was active with hands up and moving. We didn't give them (adams state) great vision on the court. Our defensive scheme worked very well."
the golden bears ran out to huge first half lead, making use of sharp shooting from a number of players and using tough defense to force many grizzlies turnovers. jineen williams (g, jr., racine, wis.) started the rampage off by sinking multiple long range shots, not normally her strength but certainly working for her against adams state.
zoraa quoie (g, jr., woodbury, minn.) then stepped in off of the bench for additional golden bear firepower. Quoie also connected on the long range shot and took off into the paint for other hits. Her efforts rebounding did not go unnoticed either, maintaining three of concordia’s possessions with offensive boards. Quoie finished the half leading the squad on the glass, also adding 10 points.
the action kicked into high gear at the 14 minute mark when cu blew out a 16-3 run to lead 31-16. Williams was responsible for 12 of the 16 points in this run, capping it all off with two three-point plays, one coming from the distance and the other being an old-fashioned three-point play.
the grizzlies attempted to counter concordia’s outside shooting by pumping the ball in down low, but with plenty of pressure surrounding the shooters, they were only able to make 35.7% of their shots in the period. As was anticipated by the pre-game scouting report, turnovers haunted the grizzlies and led to plenty of cu points. Adams state gave the ball up 15 times in the half, which cu turned into 19 points. Cu led 45-22 at the half.
the grizzlies used improved shooting to get their deficit to under 20 points, but the golden bears stayed on top of things with high percentage fast break buckets. jamie jones (g, sr., mounds view, minn.) pulled up for a mid-range jumper around the 12:30 mark, hitting the 1,000th point of her career. Jones becomes the 14th player in concordia women’s basketball history to put up 1,000 points as a golden bear.
a mid-period slip saw adams state connect on several jumpers and layups while concordia took its turn giving up the ball. A sly feed from williams on the right baseline fed kali olstad (g, sr., elgin, minn.) right under the hoop for an nice looking bucket. Williams came right back to hit her 4th triple of the game for a 64-42 concordia lead.
concordia’s lead never slipped under 20 points again. The squad continued to pressure the grizzlies into turnovers, seeing more give-aways in today’s game than in all but one other game of the year at 27.
williams’ 32 points led all players. The junior shot 11-of-16 from the field with four three-pointers made, a season high. Williams also had four assists and two steals. gillian bjerke (c, sr., detroit lakes, minn.) and quoie each finished with 12 points, quoie also nabbing five boards. ashley viehauser (f, sr., minneapolis, minn.) winded up with the most rebounds in a 40-36 cu effort, taking down seven on her own. Concordia shot 46.4% from the field.
the grizzlies hit 50% of their shots in the second half to put up a final field goal average of 42.6%. Vera jo bustos had a team high 19 points and eight boards. Chloe cable had 18 points and seven boards.
