ST. PAUL, Minn. - The #21 Concordia University women's basketball team (6-3, 1-1 NSIC) used a second half surge to claim a 63-57 win over the Winona State Warriors (4-2, 0-2 NSIC) at the Gangelhoff Center on Friday night.

The Golden Bears overcame a three point deficit at the break to pick up their first conference win of the young season.

Concordia won the battle on the glass with a 38-30 rebounding advantage.  It was a relatively clean game as the Golden Bears only committed six turnovers compared to eight for the Warriors.

Amanda Barton scored all 11 of her points in the second half and was joined by Anika Whiting and Rachel Hansen in double figures in the game.  Whiting had a team-high 19 points and six rebounds on 4-12 shooting and a perfect 10-10 from the free throw line.  Rachel Hansen filled the box score with 12 points, six boards, four assists and two steals while shooting 5-7 from the floor.

Abby Busch had 23 points on 8-16 shooting while adding eight boards to lead the Warriors.  Kate Hartman provided a spark off the bench with 14 points and five rebounds while hitting 5-7 shots and 4-6 from beyond the arc.

The Warriors came out attacking, building an early 11-4 lead just four and a half minutes into the game.  Concordia clawed their way out of the hole to cut the lead to two at 13-11 but five straight WSU points pushed the lead back out to eight at 19-11.  Following a layup from Whiting, Connor Nagle hit a three for Winona State to give them their largest lead of the night at 22-13 with 6:59 left in the first half.  The Golden Bears kept fighting as they trimmed the lead back down to two as they went on a 9-2 run to make it 24-22.  The teams traded buckets for the rest of the half as WSU went into half holding a 29-26 advantage.

Busch hit 7-0 from the floor in the first half en route to 15 points and six boards as Winona State shot 46.2% as a team in the half.  Rebounding was also in the Warriors favor in the first half as they outrebounded CU 18-13 in the first.

Whiting had a team-best nine points on 2-7 from the floor and 4-4 from the line to lead Concordia going into the break.  The Golden Bears were held to just 34.9% shooting in the half.

The second half was a completely different story as Concordia stormed out of the lockerroom and scored the first 11 points to build a 37-29 lead with 15:57 left in the game.  The effort and energy reamained as the lead hit double digits at 45-34 with just under 12 minutes to go.  The Warriors wouldn't go away, though, as they responded with a 14-4 run to close the gap to one at 49-48.  CU held strong and hit four straight at the free throw line to build the lead back to five with 3:44 left.  A pair of free throws and a Tessa Wells layup for WSU brought it back to one with a score of 53-52 with under three minutes to go but the Warriors were unable to regain the lead.  CU hit their last 12 free throws, including six in the final 1:37 to ice the game and grab a 63-57 win.

Barton led the way with 11 points on 5-8 shooting in the half and Whiting and Hansen each scored 10 in the half as well.

Concordia turned the tables in the second half and shot 46.4% from the floor while holding the Warriors to just 32.0% shooting.  The Golden Bears dominated the glass by grabbing 25 of the 37 rebounds in the half.

Abby Busch was held to just 1-6 shooting and eight points in the second half for Winona State.

Concordia is back in action tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 p.m. as the Peacocks of Upper Iowa come to town.