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ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia University women's basketball team (11-6, 6-4 NSIC) is set to play host to Wayne State (16-1, 9-1 NSIC) and Augustana (10-4, 6-4 NSIC) this weekend in a battle of top teams in the NSIC South.
THE MATCH-UPS...
Concordia holds a slight 16-15 advantage in 31 meetings with Wayne State. CU is 4-9 all-time in Wayne, but swept the season series last year. CU is 9-6 all-time against the Wildcats and has won the last three meetings overall.
Saturday's matchup is the 19th meeting between the Golden Bears and Vikings. Augie holds a 10-8 advantage in the series but Concordia holds a 4-1 advantage in St. Paul. Augustana's only win in St. Paul came back on January 3rd, 2012.
BACK ON DEC. 13... Concordia grabbed a big 71-69 road win over Augustana in Sioux Falls. The Golden Bears recovered from 27.3 percent (9-33) first half shooting by hitting 59.3 percent (16-27) after the break to overcome a 37-29 halftime deficit. Concordia used a 13-2 second half run to take its first lead of the game, 54-51 on a Whiting three-pointer which gave her a new season-high 25 points. The Golden Bears turned up the defense in the final six minutes, using a 13-5 run to secure the win as Augustana was held to just one field goal the rest of the night which was a three-pointer by Gullickson with only seven seconds to play.
Anika Whiting had a season-high 25 points to go along with 10 boards as she became the 24th member on the 1,000-point club at CU.
BACK ON DEC. 14... The Golden Bears capped off a wild weekend with a 57-54 win against #17 Wayne State on the road. Despite being outshot by WSC 40.0% to 32.3% and outrebounded 42-37, CU was able to pull out a win. A big factor in the win was a +9 turnover margin at 18-9 which resulted in 22 points off turnovers for Concordia compared to just six for Wayne State. CU overcame an 11 point first half deficit as they gained the lead for good with 3:42 to go in the game.
Anika Whiting had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds and
Carissa Wolyniec added 14 points while hitting four threes to lead the Golden Bears.Â
Rachel Hansen was the third member of CU in double figures with 12 points to go along with eight boards and three steals.
LAST TIME OUT... Concordia took a pair of road losses this weekend to MSU Moorhead and Northern State. On Friday, the Golden Bears came back from a 22 point deficit to take a 53-52 lead with just under nine minutes to play before MSU Moorhead regained control and held on to defeat Concordia 81-68 on Friday night at Alex Nemzek Hall. The difference came at the foul line, where MSUM made 84.2% of its 38 attempts while Concordia made 77.8% of its 18 attempts. The Dragons outscored Concordia 32-14 at the stripe en route to the win, being called for 11 fewer fouls. On Saturday, CU dropped a nailbiting game 61-59 at Northern State as their comeback attempt came up short for the second night in a row. The Golden Bears trailed by as many as nine in the first half at 16-7 and again at 27-18 but were able to claw their way back and take the lead in the second half but it wouldn't be enough as the Wolves regained control and held off another comeback attempt in the closing seconds.
1,000-POINT CLUB... The Golden Bears will be honoring the 24th and 25th members of the 1,000-point club after Friday's game.Â
Anika Whiting cracked the 1,000 point mark back on December 13th and
Rachel Hansen followed suit on January 3rd. Whiting now stands at 1,108 career points and Hansen stands at 1,037.
Carissa Wolyniec is closing in on becoming the 26th member as she is just 74 points from reaching the mark.
