ST. PAUL, Minn. - The #9 Concordia Golden Bears women's basketball team (2-2) dropped a thrilling early season top-25 matchup 83-81 to #21 Michigan Tech (1-0) in the Radisson Hotel Roseville Basketball Classic on Friday night.

The Huskies shot 53.1% (36-64) from the floor and a scorching 57.9% (11-19) from three as they became the second ranked opponent to knock off the Golden Bears in a row.  The two teams caught fire in the second half as they combined to hit 14-of-22 shots from beyond the arc (63.6%) in an exciting back-and-forth game at Gangelhoff Center.

Concordia came out of the gates red hot, hitting six of their first seven shots as they built a 23-11 advantage with 9:29 left in the half.  The Huskies, on the other hand, started off an icy 4-of-17 in that stretch.  Michigan Tech bounced back to score nine straight and 15 of the last 17 to take their first lead of the game at 26-25.  The momentum shifted in favor of MTU as they hit 10 of their last 11 after starting off 4-17 while CU only hit 3-of-22 after hitting six of their first seven.  Michigan Tech went into the break with a 34-30 advantage.

Kate Glodowski hit all three of her shots from beyond the arc to lead the Huskies with nine points in the first half while Kylie Moxley was also perfect from the floor in the half, hitting all four of her shots for her eight points.

Anika Whiting was dominant in the first half with 15 points on just six shots.  She was 5-6 from the field and 5-5 from the stripe in just 12 minutes in the half.  CU shot just 31.0% from the field in the first but got to the free throw line 15 times compared to just four for MTU.

Michigan Tech extended the lead to their largest of the night at 40-33 with 17:12 left and again at 46-39 with 15:08 to go.

Things got wild at that point, as Ameshia Kearney and Carissa Wolyniec started firing from downtown.  The two combined for eight threes (four each) over the next 14 minutes to carry the Golden Bear offense.

Kearney cut the lead to one at 48-47 at the 13:39 mark before Whiting gave them the lead at 49-48 just moments later.

MTU's Kate Glodowski buried a three to answer for the Huskies to give them back the lead at 51-49.  Glodowski hit a few more big threes in the second half and finished a perfect 6-6 from three en route to 18 points.

The two teams traded buckets at a frenetic pace over the next stretch before Michigan Tech built a four point lead on a Danielle Blake jumper with 5:16 left to make it 72-68.  MTU pushed the lead to five as Kerry Gardner hit a three with 2:29 remaining to give the Huskies a 79-74 lead.

After a Golden Bear timeout to regroup, Wolyniec hit her fourth three of the half to cut the lead back to two.  Rachel Hansen stole the ball away from Gardner on the ensuing possession before Kearney buried her fourth three of the half to give the Golden Bears their first lead in just under seven minutes at 80-79 with just 1:53 left in the game.

Whiting hit one of two from the line on CU's next trip to up the lead to 81-79.

But a big bucket from Tech's Kylie Moxley tied the scored up for the eighth time of the game with 1:17 remaining and Wolyniec rimmed-out a three to set up the final possession for the Huskies with a tie score.

Moxley hit a layup in traffic with just four seconds left to give the deciding advantage in the game at 83-81.  Wolyniec threw up a wild, contested three as time expired that fell short and gave Michigan Tech a win in their season opener.

Whiting had a big game for CU with 24 points on 9-12 shooting and 6-7 from the stripe. She was joined by Kearney, Wolyniec and Hansen in double figures.  Kearney hit 5-12 from the field and 4-6 from three to give her a career-high 18 points in her young Golden Bear career.  Wolyniec went 6-11 from the floor and hit 4-8 from beyond the arc for her 16 points.  Rachel Hansen just missed a double-double with 10 points, nine assists and five boards on the night.

Concordia bounced back to shoot 53.3% in the second half to finish the game at 42.4%.  CU won the battle on the glass with a 37-33 advantage.

Moxley led the Huskies with 20 points and Danielle Blake joined Glodowski with 18 points.

Both teams are back in action tomorrow as Michigan Tech takes on MSU Moorhead at 3:00 p.m. and Concordia takes on UW-Parkside at 5:00 p.m.