KEY LINKS: NCAA INTERACTIVE BRACKET

SEARCY, Ark. – For the first time in school history, the Concordia University women's basketball team (28-8) is headed to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight. The seventh seeded Golden Bears held on for a thrilling 70-67 win over the top seed #7 Emporia State (31-4) in the NCAA Central Region Championship at Rhodes Field House hosted by Harding University.

After capturing the NSIC Tournament Championship to earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, Concordia defeated host and second seed #2 Harding University in the quarterfinals and third seed #8 Central Missouri in the semifinals before the title win over Emporia State.

Concordia will take on their fourth consecutive top-10 opponent in #10 Nova Southeastern (27-4) next Tuesday, March 25 at 1:30 p.m. at Erie Insurance Arena in Erie, Pa. Nova Southeastern is the top seed and champion of the South Region.

The Golden Bears head to the Elite Eight riding a hot streak as they have won nine straight and 17 of their last 19 games.



Region Tournament Most Outstanding Player Anika Whiting (Ashland, Wis.) had her second consecutive big game with 26 points, six rebounds and three assists on 8-13 shooting and 10-14 from the free throw line. She had a career-high 32 points on Saturday against Central Missouri. She's now extended her program season record to 641 points this year.

Concordia built a big second half lead that got as large as 18 (52-34), but the Hornets wouldn't go away. They cut the lead all the way to two and had a look at a three to tie it at the buzzer but it was off the mark, sending the Concordia bench into celebration mode.

"I thought that three was going in and we were going to overtime," said head coach Paul Fessler after the game.

Concordia was excellent on the offensive end as they shot 50.0% (25-50) from the floor and 44.4% (4-9) from three, and they were tough on the defensive end as they held the high-scoring Hornets to 40.0% (26-65) and 18.2% (2-11) from three.

Despite being outscored 44-32 in the paint and 17-0 in bench points, the resilient Golden Bears battled through to keep their season alive.

Coach Fessler was understandably excited after the game as he said, "I can't say how proud I am of the team and our program in reaching our first Elite Eight."

The third time was a charm for CU as they advance past the Sweet 16 for the first time in three tries. The Golden Bears' previous best showings resulted in losses in the round of 16 in 2005 and 2010. They now hold a 10-9 record in their 10 trips to the NCAA tournament.

Senior Carissa Wolyniec (Minneapolis) came through with a big game as well as she connected on 5-9 from the field and 4-8 from beyond the arc to finish with 16 points. She was selected to the All-Tournament Team as she hit 11-21 from beyond the arc in the three games.

Fellow senior Rachel Hansen (Eagan, Minn.) was the third member of the Golden Bears to be named to the All-Tournament Team. She finished the game with eight points, four rebounds and three assists. She averaged 15.0 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists in the three games.

Ameshia Kearney had an efficient night with 14 points on 5-8 shooting and 4-4 from the line.

Merissa Quick led the Hornets with 21 points on 7-12 shooting and 7-8 from the line.

All-Central Region Second Teamer Laura Patrick was held to just four points and four rebounds in the loss for Emporia State.

They were both named to the All-Tournament Team along with the three Golden Bears.
 
The two teams traded blows in the opening minutes with six ties and a lead change in the first seven minutes of the game before the Golden Bears took control. CU went on an extended 18-7 run over the next 10 minutes to build a 30-21 advantage with 3:13 to play, but the Hornets closed the gap to 32-27 going into the break.
 
The Golden Bears connected on 50.0% of their shots and kept Emporia State to just 34.3% in the half. Concordia also held a 7-3 advantage in assists before the break.
 
The offense was spread out as Hansen, Whiting and Kearney each had eight points in the first 20 minutes.

Kionda Nicks was also active in the first half as she scored all six of her points, and grabbed 10 of her game-high 14 boards as well as all four of her blocks.
 
Concordia extended the lead early in the second half with a momentum-shifting 17-3 run to make it 52-34. The 18 point lead was their biggest advantage of the game, but Emporia State quickly closed the gap back to single digits as they used a 14-4 run to cut the lead down to 56-48 with 6:56 to play.

ESU would close the gap even further as they had the lead down to four with two minutes to go and two with a minute to play.

Kearney stepped up and hit a pair of big free throws to push the lead back to two possessions at 69-65 with 50 seconds to play, but the Hornets went right down and cut it back to two.

Whiting hit 1-2 from the line with 11 seconds left to leave the door open for the Hornets to tie it and send it to overtime, but Patrick rimmed out on a three as time expired to give the Golden Bears the 70-67 win.