st. Paul, minn. - sophomore guard carissa wolyniec (minneapolis, minn.) poured in a career-high 24 points thanks to six 3-point field goals to lift concordia university (4-3, 1-0 nsic) to a 68-58 win over northern state (4-2, 0-1 nsic) on friday evening at gangelhoff center. Wolyniec buried her six 3-pointers in nine attempts and was 8-12 from the floor. box score

the game was close throughout the first half with neither team leading by more than six, and each team led by at least five. The half featured five ties and four lead changes with the wolves taking a 30-27 lead into the break.

wolyniec had 15 of her 24 points in the first half, shooting 3-5 from long range in hte process while sophomore post erica gress (apple valley, minn.) added five points off the bench.

but other than that, the concordia offense was slow to get rolling as no one else had more than two points.

in the second half, the golden bears woke up as wolyniec delivered three more from long distance but a more balanced attack allowed them to put up a 41-point half of basketball.

wolyniec knocked down two straight 3-pointers to break a 34-all tie in the first four minutes of the half before sophomore guard rachel hansen (eagan, minn.) added a third for concordia's largest lead at that point in the game, 43-34 with 15:18 to play.

the wolves cut the lead back to four before a pair of senior tori lythjohan (eagle lake, minn.) 3-pointers around wolyniec's third of the half put concordia ahead by 13, 52-39, approaching the middle of the half.

the lead would only break into single-digits once the rest of the way as concordia led by as many as 17 points.

while the three-point shooting sparked the game-changing runs, it was sophomore post jodi batzel (rochester, minn.) inside that stabilized the lead down the stretch.

batzel scored 14 points in the second half and finished with 16 for the game, adding six rebounds. Hansen, meanwhile, added 12 points and seven rebounds.

the wolves were led by emily becken's 19 points. Meanwhile, sarah hintz scored a career-high 13, beating her previous high of 12 which was scored in last season's nsic tournament loss at gangelhoff center to concordia.

concordia shot 53.3% for the game including 63.6% in the second half. They hit nine 3-pointers in 14 attempts (64.3%) for the contest as well, with six of those in the second half. While the perimeter game was working, they also out-rebounded northern state by a 37-27 margin.

the golden bears continue northern sun play at home tomorrow afternoon with a 4:00 p.m. Tip against u-mary.