PHOTO GALLERY (Dave Madsen)
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia University women's basketball team claimed its first conference victory of the season Friday night with a 79-57 victory over Upper Iowa. The Golden Bears climbed back to .500, improving their record to 3-3 overall and 1-1 in the NSIC while the Peacocks fell to 3-5 and 0-2 in conference play.
Concordia jumped out to an early 6-0 lead, paced by four quick free throws from
Anika Whiting (Ashland, Wis.) to start the game. Whiting took over in the first half with 16 points on 4-9 from the field and added seven rebounds. The Bears never relinquished the lead. The Peacocks closed the gap to 18-13 with 11:05 remaining in the first half thanks to a pair of free throws from Carly Pagel. The Golden Bears responded with a 19-5 run to end the half.
Both teams struggled from the field going into the half with the Peacocks shooting 19.2% (5-26) and the Bears shooting 28.9% (11-38). Neither team connected from long distance in the first 20 minutes with CU going 0-6 and UIU going 0-8.
The Golden Bears picked up right where they left off in the second half, taking a 25 point lead at 45-20 on two Whiting free throws at 17:27. Upper Iowa rallied with a 7-0 run including a pair of layups from Pagel to cut the lead to 45-27, but they never got back within 20 the rest of the game. Concordia held its largest lead of the game at 69-40 at the 4:32 mark of the second half.
Shooting improved in the second half with Upper Iowa finishing the game shooting at a clip of 32.2% (19-59) and Concordia at 37.9% (25-66). The Golden Bears got to the free throw line frequently on the night and hit 28-40 (70.0%) from the charity stripe. Rebounding was a key for the Bears as they grabbed 48 rebounds to UIU's 39. CU also forced 23 turnovers on the night but also turned it over 16 times. The Golden Bears blocked 10 shots, sparked by a career-high four from freshman
Kionda Nicks (St. Paul, Minn.) who also chipped in four points and six boards.
Whiting finished the game with a season-high 24 points and eight boards on 5-14 shooting and 14-16 from the line. She improved her season numbers to 18.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game through the first six games of the season.
Rachel Hansen (Eagan, Minn.) also posted a solid line for Concordia with 11 points, seven boards, six assists and four steals.
Pagel paced Upper Iowa in scoring with 21 points and Whitney Kieffer added 17 points and nine rebounds, coming alive with 13 points on 4-4 shooting and 5-6 from the line in the second half.
The Bears are back in action tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 p.m. with a conference matchup against the Warriors of Winona State at the Gangelhoff Center.
