Women's Basketball | 1.14.15
ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (8-7, 4-5 NSIC) closes out a four-game road swing this weekend as they travel to Minnesota Crookston (6-8, 5-5 NSIC) and Bemidji State (5-10, 2-8 NSIC).
THE MATCH-UPS... Concordia meets Minnesota Crookston in the 27th matchup betweeen the two schools on Friday. The Golden Bears held a 13-game winning streak over the Golden Eagles before last season's defeat in Crookston. CU is 9-3 all-time in Crookston.
Concordia meets Bemidji State for the 38th time in the all-time series on Saturday as the Golden Bears hold a 26-11 record. CU has dominated since 2011, going 23-2 in the last 25 meetings. CU is 9-3 in 12 trips to Bemidji.
LAST YEAR IN CROOKSTON... Alexa Thielman hit a jumper with 14 seconds remaining to give Minnesota Crookston a 59-58 win.
Kionda Nicks had one of her best offensive games of the year with a season-high 14 points to go along with 11 rebounds and five blocks. The double-double was her second on the year.
On an off night shooting,
Anika Whiting still managed 12 points and seven rebounds.
Ameshia Kearney also contributed on the offensive end as she hit her first four shots of the game giving her 10 points in the first half and 12 in the game.
LAST YEAR IN BEMIDJI... Concordia struggled to get much going offensively in a 52-49 loss to the Beavers.
The 49 points for Concordia was a season-low despite Whiting's 25 points. She played all 40 minutes and shot 9-20 from the field along with 7-9 from the stripe with nine rebounds.
Concordia didn't have anyone else in double-figures as the rest of the team combined to shoot 9-34 and only attempt five free throws.
Bemidji State had a balanced effort with three players in double-figures led by Kate Warmack with 14 points and 13 rebounds as BSU held a 43-36 margin on the glass.
LAST TIME OUT... Last weekend, the Golden Bears were swept by Augustana and #19 Wayne State. The Golden Bears fell to the Vikings 76-62 on Friday before an 85-76 loss to the Wildcats on Saturday.
Anika Whiting was a bright spot for the Golden Bears as she averaged 25.5 points and 9.0 rebounds per game on the weekend. She hit 54.3% from the floor despite the team shooting just 38.8%. On Saturday, Whiting eclipsed her previous career high with 33 points to go along with 11 rebounds to finish with a double-double.
Two weekends ago, Whiting surpassed Jennifer Pozzani as the all-time leading scorer at CU against UMD and surpassed Lisa Harfield as the all-time leading rebounder against SCSU.
LEAGUE LEADERS... Concordia has several players that rank near the league lead in multiple statistical categories so far this season.
In addition to becoming the all-time leading scorer and rebounder at CU,
Anika Whiting ranks in the top-10 in both scoring (15.3 per game) and rebounding (7.7 per game) as she ranks ninth and fifth, respectively.
Mishayla Jones has taken control of the point guard position in her second year as she ranks sixth in assists (3.4 per game), fourth in assist/turnover ratio (1.7), 16th in rebounding (6.1 per game) and 23rd in scoring (12.2 per game) as she has produced in a diverse way.
Perhaps the most impressive performance in a single category has come from
Kionda Nicks, CU's all-time and single-season leader in blocks, as she leads the NSIC by nearly a block per game at 2.9 and has averaged 3.4 in NSIC play. Nicks also led the league last season in the category. She also ranks second during NSIC play with a 4.3 assist/turnover ratio and 11th in assists at 3.3 per game.
Also in NSIC play, Vo Harris is a perfect 15-15 from the free throw line,
Ameshia Kearney ranks third with 4.1 assists per game and
Lauren Shifflett is fifth in the league shooting 42.9% from three.
