FAYETTE, Iowa – The Concordia University women's basketball team (6-4, 2-2 NSIC) bounced back on Saturday afternoon with a 75-62 win over Upper Iowa (3-6, 1-4 NSIC). Caitlyn Russell led the Golden Bears with a career-high 16 points in the win.
 
The Golden Bears rolled out a new-look starting five and it paid off as all five starters scored in double figures in the win. Russell wasn't the only one to blow past her career high in scoring as Kyrah Fredenburg each surpassed their career bests as well.
 
Caitlyn Russell connected on an efficient 8-10 from the field while picking up four rebounds in 17 minutes in her first start.
 
Fredenburg and Dudley also entered the starting lineup for the first time as Fredenburg hit 3-5 from beyond the arc and 4-9 from the floor overall while pulling down six boards in 33 minutes and Dudley hit 5-9 from the floor and 2-6 from three while also grabbing six rebounds in her 28 minutes.
 
Mishayla Jones was aggressive attacking the hoop as she scored 15 points on 7-13 shooting to go along with four rebounds, three steals and a pair of assists in the victory. Ameshia Kearney also finished in double figures with 11 points on 5-10 shooting as she fell just an assist shy of a double-double with a career-high nine assists.
 
Aleesha Cleaver provided an unlikely spark off the bench for the Peacocks with 22 points off the bench on 8-17 from the floor. Lindsay Carroll was the only other UIU player in double figures with 15 points.
 
CU was efficient from the floor as they hit 52.4% of their shots (33-63) while holding UIU to 33.8% (23-68). The Golden Bears were unselfish with the basketball with 22 assists while the Peacocks had 14 and they forced 11 Upper Iowa turnovers while committing eight.
 
Concordia jumped out to an early 11-8 lead as Coach Fessler shook up the starting lineup. The Peacocks responded with a 6-0 run to take a 14-11 lead and maintained a three point lead at 20-17 with 11:04 left in the half. The Golden Bears took control with a 13 straight points, aided by a pair of threes from Fredenburg and a three from Dudley as they held a 30-20 advantage less than five minutes later. UIU did some damage at the free throw line down the stretch before the break and Aleesha Cleaver hit the Peacocks' first three in 12 attempts with 29 seconds left to cut it to 34-28 heading into the locker rooms.
 
The Golden Bears opened it up with a 12-4 run in the first four minutes of the half as CU pounded it down low to Russell and pushed the pace to make it 48-34. Upper Iowa struggled to recover as the lead eventually grew to as large as 21 at 67-46 with just 6:36 remaining in the game. The Peacocks turned it around from that point on as they cut it all the way down to single digits with a 12 in a row to bring the Concordia advantage to 67-58 with 2:25 left. The Golden Bears worked the ball back down to Russell down the stretch to ice it as CU ran away with it in a 75-62 win.
 
Concordia returns home for one final game before break next Saturday as they host Minnesota State at 2 p.m.