ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia University women's basketball team (3-2) closed out the Radisson Hotel Roseville Basketball Classic with a 73-53 win over UW-Parkside (2-2) on Saturday night at the Gangelhoff Center.  Concordia hit 6-11 from beyond the arc in the first half to build a double digit lead en route to the victory.  Concordia split their two games in the tournament after dropping a game to Michigan Tech on Friday night.


CU Women's Basketball vs UW-Parkside - Images by Justin Oakman

Concordia scored the first five points before allowing the Rangers to score 12 of the next 14 to take a five point lead of their own with 14 minutes left in the first half.  A pair of free throws a few minutes later with 12:36 remaining in the half gave UWP their largest lead of the game 17-11, but it wouldn't last.  CU hit three threes over the next three-plus minutes as Anika Whiting, Carissa Wolyniec and Jodi Batzel all delivered to take a 20-19 lead.  The run continued as Batzel hit another three and Wolyniec hit two more to balloon the lead to 31-19 with 2:59 left in the half.  Concordia forced nine straight misses for the Rangers as they went scoreless for nearly seven minutes.  UW-Parkside closed the gap slightly as they went into the half down 35-25.

Wolyniec went 4-5 from the floor and 3-4 from three in the half as she scored a game-high 11 points while also collecting five boards.  Jodi Batzel provided a spark off the bench with 10 points on 4-7 shooting and 2-3 from distance. The Golden Bears held the Rangers to just 31.3% from the field in the half and forced 10 turnovers to disrupt the UWP offense.

The Golden Bears ran away with it early in the second half as they scored 12 of 14 in the first three and a half minutes of play to extend the lead to 20.  The lead would reach 26 with 12:45 left on a Whiting layup.  UW-Parkside wouldn't give up, though, as they widdled the lead down to 13 with 7:27 as Gaby Bronson with a pair from the line to close out a 10-1 run.  Concordia responded with nine straight to effectively put the game away with a 22 point lead at 66-44 with 5:01 to go in the game.  The teams traded buckets down the stretch as the Golden Bears settled with a 73-53 victory.

Whiting picked it up in the second half, scoring 10 points and Rachel Hansen and Wolyniec each added eight.

Carissa Wolyniec finished the day with a game-high 19 points on 7-9 shooting and 5-7 from three.  She finished the weekend with 35 points and nine three's between the two games as she was honored as part of the All-Tournament Team.  Anika Whiting had 15 points and eight boards for CU and Rachel Hansen chipped in 13 points, five rebounds and three assists as well as 7-7 from the stripe in the game.  Batzel finished with 12 points and six boards off the bench.

Gaby Bronson had a double-double for the Rangers, scoring 10 points, grabbing 10 boards to go along with seven assists despite shooting 3-15 from the floor. She also didn't commit a turnover while running point for the Rangers.

Morgan Zabel of MSU Moorhead was named the Tournament MVP and she was joined by Kylie Moxley and Danielle Blake of Michigan Tech as well as Wolyniec for CU and Bronson for UWP.  MSU Moorhead finished the tournament 2-0.