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ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia University women's basketball team (9-4, 4-2 NSIC) plays host to the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs (7-3, 4-2 NSIC) and the St. Cloud State Huskies (8-2, 4-2 NSIC) this weekend. Both teams sit in a tie for first place in the NSIC North with Minot State and Northern State while the Golden Bears are just a game behind first-place Wayne State in the NSIC South.
THE MATCH-UP... Concordia returns home to take on Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State at the Gangelhoff Center on January 3rd and 4th. CU is 17-20 against UMD all-time, but has won six of the last eight meetings. The Golden Bears hold an 11-15 record against the Huskies, despite winning five of the last seven in that series.
LAST YEAR AT UMD... Despite shooting under 40% for the game, attempting 33 fewer shots and committing 3-times as many turnovers, Concordia-St. Paul was able to defeat Minnesota Duluth by 13 points with a 66-53 win.
Anika Whiting scored 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds while
Amanda Barton posted her first career double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
LAST YEAR AT SCSU...
Rachel Hansen produced the fifth triple-double in NCAA Division II women's basketball on the year, scoring 13 points with 11 rebounds and 11 assists to lead Concordia-St. Paul to a 66-62 road win at St. Cloud State.
The Golden Bears clamped down on the Huskies who were playing on their home floor. SCSU shot just 27.1% (19-70) from the floor and once again attempted a large amount of shots.
LAST TIME OUT... #20 Concordia took their second conference loss to their travel partner #23 Minnesota State 80-67 at the Taylor Center in Mankato back on December 21st. Turnovers and rebounding proved to give the Mavericks the deciding edge as the two teams pulled even in the competitive NSIC South standings. MSU out-rebounded the Golden Bears 52-42 and forced 17 CU turnovers compared to nine of their own. The result was a 28-9 advantage in second chance points and a 19-4 advantage in points off turnovers for Minnesota State.
Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State did battle on the campus of UMD on December 21st, the last game for both teams, and the Bulldogs pulled out a 75-66 win to pull even with the Huskies in the standings. Jessica Benson had 21 points and 17 boards for SCSU and Katrina Newman scored a game-high 27 points on 10-18 shooting in just 23 minutes off the bench.
CHASING HISTORY... Whiting topped 1,000 career points on December 18th, becoming the 24th player in program history to top the milestone. She also ranks eighth in the Division II era at Concordia with 461 career rebounds.
Rachel Hansen isn't far behind as she is only 11 points away at 989. Hansen is also four assists shy of second in DII era history at CU. She also trails Whiting by just 15 rebounds, checking in at 10th during the DII era.
The third member chasing 1,000 points is
Carissa Wolyniec as she is 131 points away from the mark. Wolyniec also ranks third in DII history at CU with 204 threes made and second in free throw percentage at 81.3%.
