saint paul, minn. - it was a game of two halves on saturday afternoon as concordia (6-5, 3-2 nsic) fell 68-45 to the st. Cloud state huskies (5-4, 3-2 nsic). erica gress (apple valley, minn.) and anika whiting (ashland, wis.) each had seven points leading the way. Gress and mandy poke (richfield, minn.) each had six rebounds but the story was cu committing 29 fouls, 22 turnovers and scoring just 15 second half points. box score
concordia out shot the huskies on the night shooting 37.0% compared to scsu's 30.0%. The huskies made just one more field goal than the golden bears but made three more three pointers and had 18 more made free throws on the night. Scsu had 40 free throw attempts to just 14 from cu. The huskies outscored cu 31-13 in points off turnovers as well.
in the early going the huskies held an 11-7 lead after five minutes of play but concordia went on a 9-0 run over the next three minutes taking a 16-11 lead. Gress had three of her seven points during the run. The lead was short lived as scsu took the lead back about a minute later thanks to a three point play. The rest of the half was one possession game in a half that included seven ties including 30-30 with 1:48 left. The huskies scored the last seven points of the half to take a 34-30 lead into the locker room.
the golden bears last made field goal came with 3:21 left in the first half, that fact is important because for the first 9:36 of the second half concordia went without a basket. Two foul shots by rachel hansen (eagan, minn.) at the 16:34 mark of the second half were cu's only points until whiting hit a three with 10:34 on the clock. Neither was impressive in the first six minutes of the half, as hansen's free throws were the only scoring that took place. The huskies then took over.
a quick 13-0 run over a matter of just three minutes gave scsu a 47-32 lead with 10:51 left and concordia was never able to recover. Cu never got closer than 12 the rest of the half as scsu kept getting to the foul line over and over. Concordia committed 17 fouls in the second half alone, resulting in 17 made free throws for scsu. St. Cloud shot just 7-28 in the second half but used the free throws to pull away in a big fashion.
the next game for concordia will not be until after the new year as the christmas break gives the team a time to rest. The golden bears are back in action january second against wayne state at 6:00 p.m. In the gangelhoff center. Wayne state is ranked ninth in the nation currently.
