st. Paul, minn. - carissa wolyniec (minneapolis, minn.) converted a three point play with 4.3 seconds remaining as the golden bears (8-11, 5-8 nsic) erased an eleven point, second half deficit picking up the 67-66 win over minnesota, crookston (8-9, 5-8 nsic). Wolyniec led cu in scoring on the night with 16 points. erica gress (apple valley, minn) had 12 points and eight rebounds off the bench. box score

both teams struggled to find their game on saturday afternoon, cu finished the night shooting 34.7% and umc finished at 33.3%. Concordia was just 1-12 from behind the arc in the game but outscored umc 42-24 in the paint. rachel hansen (eagan, minn.) and many poke (richfield, minn.) each added 14 points in the game. The golden bears also did a nice job converting on forced turnovers outscoring umc 18-6 in that department.

much like the night before concordia took awhile to get the ball in the basket failing to score in the first 2:53 of the game starting 0-6 from the field. Fortunately minnesota, crookston was not much better and cu held a three point lead after five minutes of action. The lead got as large as eight in the first half for cu leading 14-6 with 13:38 on the clock.

umc would go on a 11-3 lead over the next two plus minutes to tie the game at 17. With 5:05 on the clock and crookston trailing by one, 22-21, the golden eagles would go on a 12-2 run taking a nine point lead with 1:28 on the clock. At the half cu trailed 34-25.

crookston extended its lead to 11 right of the break, their largest of the game. The golden bears slowly started to come back and got the lead down to a single possession with 13:24 on the clock. Hansen got cu within two at 45-43 but the golden eagles quickly built their lead back to seven with just under nine minutes to play.

it looked like concordia might come up short as they couldn't close the gap on umc with five minutes left, but poke, hansen and wolyniec combined to score seven straight points and tie the game at 62 with 3:05 left. Hansen gave cu their first lead since the 5:23 mark in the first half with a layup. Crookston's megan eul would score the next four points for umc as they took a 66-64 lead with 1:05 left. Hansen missed a layup with 52 seconds left on the clock but after tierra bender (milwaukee, wis.) picked up a steal, cu had the ball with 15 seconds left down just two. Wolyniec drove to the hole an banked a layup in as she was fouled with 4.3 seconds left. She then stepped to the line after a umc timeout and sank the foul shot giving cu the 67-66 lead with 4.3 seconds on the clock. Crookston's brittani wiese's jumper at the buzzer from the top of the key hit the front of the rim but came up short as cu won 67-66.

the golden bears are back in action next weekend as they travel to augustana and wayne state on friday and saturday. Cu will look for revenge as the fell to both teams right after the christmas break this season.