durango, colo. €" the golden bears fell to the northern state wolves by a score of 74-70 in the ncaa central region quarterfinals at whalen gymnasium in durango, colorado. jineen williams led the way with 23 points in the loss. maurika hickman had 14 and jodi batzel added 13 in the game as well. box score
the golden bears finished just 5-22 from the three point line in the loss and got to the foul line just nine times. Northern state held a 32-28 advantage in the points in the paint as well as outscoring cu 18-10 in points off turnovers. Both teams only turned the ball over 11 times but nsu was able to capitalize.
in the first half williams led the way with 11 points as she was hot in the first half shooting 5-8 in the opening 20 minutes. Hickman had five points and shandrell duncan, zoraa quoie and rachel hansen each had four. Nsu shot 50.0% in the first half compared to a 37.1% shooting first half by concordia. Cu was just 3-12 from behind arc as one the nation’s top three point shooting teams continued to struggle from behind the arc over the last couple weeks.
the game was tight throughout the first half as neither team got much separation. Nsu had the largest lead in the first half leading 32-27 at the 3:26 mark of the first half. Northern state scored to open the game before hickman hit a three to give cu their first lead. Nsu took a lead right back and kept it until the 13:20 mark of the first half. Cu again momentarily took the lead back but northern state responded once again. The golden bears largest lead of the game came off a williams three pointer with 10:32 left in the game. Cu had a chance to cut into the nsu lead right before half but a hickman jumper rattled out.
the second half the wolves kept putting the ball down low and kept getting results. Northern state used their height advantage over concordia and even though cu found their shooting stroke in the second half it was not enough to overtake nsu.
hickman hit a jumper out of the gate in the first half as she cut the cu deficit to just two. Quoie tied it up moments later on a fast break layup. It was the first time cu had tied the game in nine minutes. The two teams traded buckets before nsu scored five straight to take a 42-37 lead with 17:14 remaining. With the score 44-41 in favor of the wolves, nsu sent the ball inside often as they scored eight straight points to go up 11, 52-41.
the golden bears rallied going on an 11-4 run capped off by a williams jumper. Batzel had six of the 11 points for cu during the run. The wolves kept the golden bears at bay extending the lead to eight a couple times over the next few minutes, even leading by 10 for a brief moment at the 7:00 minute mark. Fearing that their season was coming to an end concordia mounted a furious effort in the last 6:51 of the game.
concordia went on a 9-0 run in just under two minutes to close the gap to 62-61 with 5:07 left on the clock. Nsu tried to keep cu from tying the game as they took back a five point lead with 3:31 left. A jumper by williams and a rare three pointer by jodi batzel tied the game at 68 with 1:14 remaining. Nsu hit a pair of free throws with 49 seconds left to go back up by two but hickman tied it right back up with a runner in the lane. Again the wolves responded as they got a layup to go with 23 seconds left on the clock. Batzel tried to put cu ahead with a three pointer from the top of the key but it hit the front end and bounced off. Nsu iced the game with a pair of free throws moments later.
concordia finishes the season 19-11 on the year. A full season recap will be up on cugoldenbears.com next week, featuring the final career numbers for four seniors who planted their names in the cu record book during their playing days.
