CROOKSTON, Minn. – The Concordia University women's basketball team (8-8, 4-6 NSIC) dropped their third in a row with a 73-61 loss to Minnesota Crookston (7-8 6-5 NSIC) on Friday night. Ameshia Kearney led CU with 16 points on 6-12 shooting and 3-5 from beyond the arc to go along with five rebounds and four assists.
 
The Golden Bears struggled to get much going on the offensive end as they hit just 32.9% (24-73) from the field while the Golden Eagles hit 35.6% (21-59). UMC got a huge boost from the free throw line by going 24-28 (85.7%) compared to 6-8 (75.0%) for CU.
 
Minnesota Crookston also controlled the glass as they held a 51-41 advantage on the glass and turned it into a 12-3 advantage in second chance points.
 
On a night in which scoring was hard to come by, Anika Whiting and Amanda Barton joined Kearney in double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Whiting grabbed five boards and dished out three assists while Barton hit a pair of threes and chipped in three rebounds off the bench.
 
Kayla Miller made her first career start and doubled her career high with eight rebounds and added four points in 29 minutes. Caitlyn Russell also added eight rebounds and six points off the bench.
 
Emily Gruber, Kayle Moenkedick and Ebony Livingston were effective down low for the Golden Eagles as all three grabbed double figures in rebounds. Gruber finished with 12 points and a game-best 16 boards while Moenkedick also finished with a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Livingston just missed a double-double with nine points and 11 rebounds.
 
After Kearney opened the scoring in the opening minute, Minnesota Crookston grabbed the next eight points to quickly build an 8-2 advantage. Concordia erased the lead by the 14:14 mark and tied it up at 12 as Kearney and Russell carried the scoring load.
 
The Golden Bears, however, were unable to get over the hump as they Golden Eagles regained a five point advantage with eight of the next 11 points. The lead continued to grow as UMC used a 16-5 run spanning over five minutes to hand them their biggest lead of the half at 36-23 with 4:32 to play. Both teams went cold down the stretch and CU was able to cut it back to single digits with five straight points but a three-point play for Minnesota Crookston with 1:13 to play pushed the lead back to 39-28 going into the break.
 
In the half, CU connected on just 29.7% from the floor while UMC was much more efficient at 42.9%. The Golden Eagles also held a 27-22 rebounding margin in the half as well as a 14-4 scoring advantage in the paint.
 
Concordia opened up the second half with a dominant 22-7 run spanning the first 11:38 as they limited the Golden Eagles to just 2-14 from the floor in that span and turned a 39-28 deficit into a 50-46 lead. CU forced four UMC turnovers and hit all three of their attempts from beyond the arc in that span to take control.
 
The lead didn't last long as an 18-4 run in favor of Minnesota Crookston pushed the UMC lead all the way back to double figures at 64-54 with 3:31 to play in the game. The Golden Eagles attacked aggressively during that span as they reached the foul line 10 times, hitting eight of them.
 
Concordia wasn't able to pull any closer than seven the rest of the way as Minnesota Crookston iced away the game at the free throw line, hitting 9-10 down the stretch to bring it to a 73-61 final.
 
CU will look to get back into the win column tomorrow afternoon as they take on Bemidji State in Bemidji at 4 p.m.