saint paul, minn. - the gangelhoff center was transformed into the stage for the maurika hickman show on saturday evening as the senior guard set a career high with 30 points. She became the 20th different cu women's basketball player to reach the 30 point club in school history as concordia (19-9. 16-6 nsic) revenged two regular season losses to northern state (20-8, 16-6 nsic) picking up the 74-67 win. shandrell duncan had a season high 14 points in the win and jineen williams added 15. box score | watch championship live | live stats

it took the golden bears three games but cu was able to figure out a way to score the ball against a stingy northern state defense. After averaging just 61 points per game in their two losses to the wolves, cu scored 74 points and shot 41.7% from the field. Hickman who has led the golden bears in every game this season against the wolves did not disappoint as she was 10-21 from the field and hit 4-7 from behind the arc on her way to 30 points. Duncan took over the game inside for concordia has cu's regular post jodi batzel found herself in foul trouble all night. Duncan was a perfect 7-7 from the field and grabbed four boards in the win. Williams again stuffed the stat sheet as she had 15 points, 7 rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block. zoraa quoie had two steals on the night and is now four shy of the all time school record for steals in a season and in a career.

the first half was a back and forth battle as both teams were trying to perfect their offense. The golden bears were the team that had the most success on the offensive end connecting on 45.2% of their shots in the first half. Northern state shot just 39.3% from the field in the opening 20 minutes but was 10-16 from the line to stay in the game. Northern state was 0-3 from behind the arc in the first half whereas cu was 5-12.

northern state scored the first 4 four points of the game keeping cu scoreless for the first 2:40 of the game. Williams hit a three point jumper to get the scoring going for cu in the first half. Quoie scored with a layup a minute late to give cu their first lead of the game at 5-4. The two teams traded buckets back and forth as neither team had a lead larger than four until rachel hansen hit a runner at the free throw line to give cu a 37-32 lead at half.

in the first half along there was eight ties and 11 lead changes. Nsu held a 16-6 advantage in the first half in points in the paint. Hickman was 6-12 from the field on her way to 15 first half points. Krista rabenberg was the leading scorer for the wolves with nine points in the first half.

as the second half began the game was tight once again as rabenberg hit a jumper to pull nsu back within three. The game traded between a one and two possession game until cu's jineen williams hit a layup and put concordia up by seven with 13:51 on the clock. Northern state had got as close as two at 42-40 but cu went on a 18-5 run to get out to their largest lead of the game at 15. Hickman had seven and duncan had six points during the run that gave cu some much wanted breathing room.

the wolves responded by going on a 13-2 run to cut the cu lead to 62-58. A layup by williams followed by a three pointer by hickman extended the lead back to nine at 67-58. That three by hickman tied her career high at the moment. Nsu came right back scoring the next five points and again getting back wit four. Cu got two free throws by williams and a layup by hickman as the two seniors willed concordia to a win at the end of the game. Hickman scored her 30th point of the game from the line with :29 seconds left and put cu up by seven. The wolves could only get with five but two rachel hansen free throws with :07 seconds left gave cu the win.

concordia will now play the winona state warriors, who upset wayne state, in the nsic/sanford health tournament championship at 2:00 p.m. Tomorrow in the gangelhoff center. Concordia will attempt to win their fourth nsic tournament championship as well as win their 20th game for the ninth straight season.