ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia University women's basketball team (22-8) advances to the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament quartefinals with an 81-72 win over Minnesota Duluth (14-13) on Wednesday night. The Golden Bears will face the number two seed from the North, Minot State, on Sunday night at 6:00 p.m. The win was Paul Fessler's 300th of his career at Concordia.
Concordia knocked down a sizzling 49.1% (26-53) from the floor and 42.9% (6-14) from three in the win. Cu also did an excellent job of protecting the rim as they blocked a school record 12 shots compared to just one for the Bulldogs.
A big reason for the advantage in blocks was sophomore
Kionda Nicks. Nicks set a Division II era record at CU with eight blocks to go along with four points, six rebounds and three assists in 27 minutes of action.
Offensively,
Ameshia Kearney stayed hot with 25 points, one shy of her career high set last Saturday, as well as five rebounds and three assists.
Perhaps the most impressive stat line of the night came from senior
Rachel Hansen. She nearly finished with a triple-double with 20 points, 10 boards and eight assists on 7-12 shooting and 9-13 from the charity stripe. It was Hansen's second 20-point, 10-rebound game of the season and fifth overall for the team. She scored all 20 of her points in the second half.
Anika Whiting and
Carissa Wolyniec each hit 5-8 from the floor as Whiting finished with 15 points and nine rebounds while Wolyniec had 13 points and five boards.
Hannah Rutten and Kenzie Kane provided a spark off the bench for UMD as Rutten had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds while Kane was 4-7 from the field and 3-5 from beyond the arc to finish with 12 points. The Bulldogs outscored the Golden Bears 27-4 off the bench.
Leading scorer Katrina Newman was held to 5-16 shooting as she finished the night with 11 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Minnesota Duluth as a team was held to just 34.7% shooting for the game.
Taylor Meyer also finished with a team-high 14 points on 5-12 shooting.
The Golden Bears jumped out to an early 19-8 lead with a barrage of threes and jumpers from Wolyniec and Kearney, but the Bulldogs quickly closed the gap with an 11-2 run of their own. CU eventually got the lead back to double digits at 34-24 with 4:42 to go in the half on a pair of free throws from Whiting, but once again UMD battled back to go into the break down 37-34.
Minnesota Duluth used a 24-19 advantage to keep the game close in the first 20 minutes despite connecting on only 32.4% of their shots in that span.
The momentum gained by the Bulldogs at the end of the first half carried over into the second half as UMD pulled even at 43 with 14:27 to go in the game on a three from Kane. She hit another three just a few minutes later to give Minnesota Duluth their first and only lead of the game at 46-45. Kearney responded with two huge threes in a row to give the Golden Bears a five point advantage they would not give up. The Bulldogs did tie the game one more time at the 7:23 mark on a three point play for Kane, but it was all CU from there. A 16-5 run over the next nearly five minutes iced the game for the Golden Bears as they eventually settled with an 81-72 win.
Concordia is now 20-7 all-time in the NSIC Tournament and 10-1 in the opening round. The Golden Bears have won both meetings against the Minot State Beavers since they've joined the league. This will be their first meeting in the NSIC Tournament ever. The Golden Bears also entered the tournament as the eighth ranked team in the latest Central Region poll.
