saint paul, minn. - concordia came out of saturday with the biggest win of the year as they upset #6 wayne state 91-57, in a game that cu needed to pad their post season resume. The golden bears ended wsc's streak of 16 straight victories and ended their bid at a perfect nsic season as cu exploded for their best effort offensively of the season. Cu hit 57.1% percent of their shots, the highest all season as well as connecting on 10-16 from behind the arc tying the most three pointers hit this season and tied for three point percentage. Concordia has now won 8 straight but double digits and by an average of 20.1 points. box score
the golden bears were led by jineen williams, who had her third double-double of the season going for 22 points and 12 rebounds. Williams also added five assists, four steals and a block. Cu also got double digit scoring from three freshman, carissa wolyniec, jodi batzel and rachel hansen. Wolyniec set her career high with 19 points off the bench, she finished the night 5-7 from behind the arc in the win. Batzel fell one point shy of her career high as she had a spurt where she scored 13 of 21 cu's points from the end of the first half through the first few minutes of the second half. zoraa quoie was instrumental in setting up the offense as she dished out a season high seven assists on the evening, tying her total from her game at emporia state. Cu committed just 9 turnovers on the evening as they dished out 20 assists, a season high.
in the first half concordia jumped out to an early 9-3 lead before the wildcats clawed back scoring 13 straight points, the first of many big runs in the game. The run held cu scoreless for 3:40 as wsc showed why they are ranked #6 in the nation, taking a 16-9 lead. Over the next 12:24, the golden bears cut the lead to four with 1:08 left in the first half. Wayne state had a chance to pull head by six right before half but cu forced a big stop and mandy poke hit a jumper as time expired to cut the lead to just two.
the game was close and the first half statistics showed it. Cu was 15-30 in the first half and wsc was close behind shooting 13-28 in the half. Neither team shot the three very well in the half as cu hit just 2-7 and wayne state was 3-9. The big advantage wayne state held in the first half was from the foul line as they were 8-11 compared to cu who was just 3-6. Williams led all concordia scorers in the first half as she scored nine points on 4-9 shooting in the first half. The golden bears outscored wayne state 20-14 in the first half.
right out of the halftime break cu tied the game on a batzel layup. Batzel scored cu's next six points as they took a 41-40 lead with 17:42 left. Concordia opened up the second half on 20-8 run over the first 6:04 of the second half, taking a ten point lead 55-45 with 13:06 left in the game. Wayne state hit a pair of free throws and wolyniec responded by hitting a three to bring the lead to 12. Wayne state hit a jumper on their next possession to cut the lead to nine, but then it was all cu for the next 4:49 as they scored 20 straight points, williams scored nine point alone during the run. Wsc hit a jumper in the paint but cu was not done as they scored 11 more straight points over the next 3:22. In all concordia outscored wsc 31-2 over 8:53 in the second half. Wayne state scored just 14 points in the first 19:17 of the second half as cu cruised to a big 91-57 win.
the golden bears shot an impressive 63.6% in the second half including 8-9 from three. Cu also outscored the wildcats 22-4 in the paint in the second half. Concordia's bench outscored the wildcats 20-8 in the half, en route to a 31-14 advantage in that category for the game. Cu scored an amaing 56 points in the second half alone.
concordia will be back in action next week as they travel to upper iowa and winona state as they look to continue their winning ways.
photos by trevor saylor
