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ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia University women's basketball team (17-6, 12-4 NSIC) plays host to Sioux Falls (12-8, 8-8 NSIC) and Southwest Minnesota State (4-16, 2-14 NSIC) to wrap up their regular season home schedule.
THE MATCH-UPS... The Golden Bears take on Sioux Falls in their fourth meeting all-time. CU has won both meetings since the Cougars joined the NSIC, including a 76-47 win in St. Paul last year.
Concordia holds a 28-16 record all-time against the Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs and have dominated the series recently. The Golden Bears have won 24 of the last 26 meetings and haven't lost at the Gangelhoff Center since 2002.
LAST YEAR VS SIOUX FALLS... The Golden Bears clinched their their fifth NSIC regular season title with a 76-47 win over the Cougars. CU opened the game strong, scoring the game's first seven points and mounting a 17-2 lead over the first 7:45 of play. Concordia never trailed and Sioux Falls wasn't able to get the margin into single digits the rest of the way. The closest they came was a 10-point deficit late in the first half, 29-19 with 5:19 to play. The Golden Bears led by 18 at the break and would open the lead up to as many as 29, which would be the final margin.
Carissa Wolyniec finished the night with six three-pointers on eight attempts and scored 18 points. While Wolyniec lit things up from the outside, sophomore
Anika Whiting had things going on the interior with 20 points and nine rebounds.
LAST YEAR IN BISMARCK... Concordia clinched at least a share of the 2013 NSIC Regular Season Championship with a 73-59 win over Southwest Minnesota State. The Golden Bears built an early 15-4 lead and led from start to finish. The Mustangs cut the lead to two at the 12:36 mark of the second half but were unable to get over the hump.
Amanda Barton provided the spark off the bench with 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting including 3-of-4 from long range.
Kionda Nicks and
Anika Whiting each scored 10 points and
Rachel Hansen and
Carissa Wolyniec scored eight and nine, respectively.
LAST TIME OUT... Concordia-St. Paul extended their winning streak to six games with a home sweep of two of the top teams in the NSIC North in Minot State and U-Mary. On Friday, the Golden Bears used a dominant first half to build a 41-19 lead at the break and withstood a second half surge to claim the win. Concordia shot 45.9% from the field in the opening 20 minutes while holding the Beavers to just 20.6%. The momentum shifted in favor of Minot State in the second half as Minot rebounded to shoot 48.6% in the second half compared to just 26.1% for the Golden Bears, but it wasn't enough to overcome the 22 point halftime deficit as CU claimed a 68-63 win. On Saturday, Concordia held the Marauders to just 25.3% shooting for the game and 18.5% from beyond the arc as they pulled away in the second half in the 74-55 win. CU dominated around the rim as, outscoring U-Mary by a margin of 34-18 in the paint. The Golden Bears also doubled up Mary in the blocks category by a mark of 10 to 5.
1,000-POINT CLUB...
Carissa Wolyniec comes into the weekend just five points shy of becoming the 26th member of the 1,000 point club at Concordia. Whiting and Hansen became the 24th and 25th members earlier this year.
TAKING CARE OF THE ROCK... The Golden Bears have done an excellent job of protecting the ball all year. CU leads the nation by only committing 11.8 turnovers per game. The Golden Bears force 14.3 per game to claim a differential of +2.5. Concordia also ranks fifth in the country in assist-to-turnover margin with a mark of 1.32.
