PHOTOS

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team stayed hot with a 76-70 win on Friday night at Gangelhoff Center against MSU Moorhead (7-5, 4-4 NSIC). Sophomore Anika Whiting (Ashland, Wis.) continued her stellar play, missing a double-double by one rebound, as she had 24 points and nine rebounds on the night.

Whiting shot 50% from the floor (9-18), adding 6-of-7 from the line. The Golden Bears overcame a slow start with a big second half, scoring 49 points with 20 by Whiting, to improve to 8-4 on the season (6-2 NSIC). Concordia also extend its winning streak to five games, the longest current streak in the league.

A cold start for both teams kept the game close for most of the first half. Both teams struggled with their shooting, both shooting sub-35% from the floor in the first 10:00 min of play. MSU Moorhead got out to an early lead but was unable to pull away. MSU Moorhead's biggest lead was five at 13-8 with 12:00 remaining in the first half.

Concordia responded with a 9-0 run highlighted by the Golden Bears' first made 3-point shoter (started 0-6), made by Carissa Wolyniec (Minneapolis, Minn.). Wolyneic's three gave the Golden Bears their first lead at 15-13 with 9:59 left in the first half. She finished with 20 points on the night including 4-of-11 three-point shooting.

MSU Moorhead went on a run of their own, ending the half on a 6-2 run to go into halftime clinging to a 31-27 lead.

The Golden Bears closed the margin coming out of halftime taking a one point lead 36-35 with 17:00 left in the second half on a made layup for Whiting. The Dragons were able to tie the game back up at 44 with 13:19 left in the game but that was the closest they ever came to the Golden Bears as Concordia led the rest of the way.

A layup by Amanda Barton (Waterville, Minn.) gave the Golden Bears their biggest lead of nine, 53-44 with 10:43 to play. MSU Moorhead was able to bring the lead down to two with 1:44 to play on a layup by Megan Strese. Wolyneic answered with a 3-point shot and then backed that up with a couple of free throws on the next possession to push the lead back to seven and seal the game for the Golden Bears.

MSU Moorhead was led by Megan Strese with 23 points (10-19 FG) and nine rebounds in 34 min. Strese was very effective in the low post early with 14 points in the first half, but found less room to operate on the block in the second half. Marisa Yernatich added 14 points for the Dragons and was 3-4 from three-point range.

Concordia's second half surge was led by Whiting as she turned in 20 of her 24 points in the second half on 7-of-11 shooting from the field. Junior Rachel Hansen (Eagan, Minn.) dished out eight assists, adding seven rebounds.

Concordia's defense had 10 blocks and the post game had a 40-22 edge in the paint and a 17-5 edge in second chance points.

Concordia returns home tomorrow against Northern State at 4 p.m. at Gangelhoff Center.