Women's Basketball | 12.17.14

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (6-4, 2-2 NSIC) returns home to take on Minnesota State (6-3, 3-1 NSIC) on Saturday in their final game before the break. The game is set to tip off at 2 p.m. at the Gangelhoff Center.

THE MATCH-UP... The Golden Bears and the Mavericks are meeting for the 30th time in the all-time series as Concordia holds a 15-14 advantage in the 29 previous meetings. Minnesota State, however, has won four of the past five meetings and won both matchups last season by an average of 18.5 points.

LAST YEAR AT THE GANGELHOFF CENTER... Minnesota State dropped Concordia in the NSIC season opener by a score of 87-63.

Minnesota State took control of the game with an impressive 20-0 run that lasted just over five minutes as they built a 30-17 lead.  In that span MSU hit 7-8 shots as CU went 0-10 from the floor.  The Golden Bears cut the lead in single digits at 30-21 but wouldn't get it below 10 the rest of the day.

The Mavericks shot 45.5% from the field and 42.9% from three and outrebounded the Golden Bears by a mark of 48-31 en route to an 87-63 win.

Ali Wilkinson led the way for the Mavericks with 16 points and six boards on 5-9 shooting.  Karlee Gengenbacher added 15 points on 5-8 from the field and 2-4 from beyond the arc.

Rachel Hansen led the way for CU with 15 points, nine assists, five rebounds, two blocks and two steals while hitting 5-10 shots.  Anika Whiting joined her in double digits with 14 points.

LAST TIME OUT...Concordia-St. Paul split a weekend series with Winona State and Upper Iowa in their first NSIC road trip of the season.

On Friday, CU trailed for most of the night before taking the lead several times midway through the second half but were unable to get over the hump as WSU used a late 12-3 run to clinch a 71-61 win.

Ameshia Kearney played all 40 minutes and led the Golden Bears with 15 points on 5-8 shooting, knocking down 5-7 at the stripe. Mishayla Jones finished with nine points, nine rebounds, five assists and just one turnover although she shot just 4-16 from the floor.

On Saturday, Concordia shook things up with their rotation and it paid off in a 75-62 win at UIU. CU was efficient from the floor as they hit a season-best 52.4% of their shots (33-63) while holding UIU to 33.8% (23-68).

Caitlyn Russell led the Golden Bears with a career-high 16 points in the win. She connected on an efficient 8-10 from the field while picking up four rebounds in 17 minutes in her first start.

Russell wasn't the only one to blow past her career high in scoring as Kyrah Fredenburg and Jordyn Dudley each surpassed their career bests as well.

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.

APPROACHING HISTORY... Anika Whiting entered her senior season with 1,485 points, just 162 shy of Jennifer Pozzani as the all-time leading scorer at Concordia. Whiting has scored 149 points through her first 10 games this season to pull within 13 of Pozzani for the record. With the Golden Bears returning home for a three-game homestand, Whiting should have an excellent shot of surpassing the mark on her home court. The senior also entered the season as the second-leading rebounder in program history and sits just 13 rebounds shy of Lisa Harfield's record 742 career rebounds.