AMES, Iowa – The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team fell in an exhibition game at Iowa State by a score of 77-51 on Sunday afternoon. Freshman Nicole Parsons paced the Golden Bears with 14 points in the game.
 
The Golden Bears held the Cyclones to just 32% shooting (22-69) but were unable to take advantage on the offense end as they connected on 30% (21-70) of their attempts on the day. The CSP defense not only held ISU to a low shooting percentage, but they also forced 16 turnovers. Iowa State did, however, find some success from beyond the arc as they hit 40% (10-25) while Concordia hit 16% (4-25). ISU also got to the free throw line twice as much as CSP as they hit 23-32 (72%) compared to 5-16 (31%) for the Golden Bears.
 
Parsons was a major bright spot in the game as she connected on 5-10 from the floor and 3-4 from the line while grabbing four boards. She joined Mishayla Jones as the only two Concordia players with over five points. Jones finished with nine points on 4-9 shooting off the bench as she provided a nice offensive spark.
 
On the defensive end, the duo of Kionda Nicks and Kyrah Fredenburg gave CSP some physicality as they both snagged nine rebounds as Nicks added four blocks while Fredenburg chipped in four points.
 
Seanna Johnson led the Cyclones with 14 points, eight rebounds and five assists while Nicole Blaskowsky fell two points short of a double-double with eight points and 11 boards for ISU.
 
Defense was especially the story in the early going as the Golden Bears missed their five spots and the Cyclones missed four of their first five shots. Things wouldn't get much better for the two teams on offense for much of the rest of the opening quarter as CSP kept it close at 12-6 through the first 10 minutes. In total, Iowa State connected on 4-20 from the floor in the first while Concordia hit 3-19.
 
The scoring output picked up in the second quarter as the two teams began knocking down some shots. The Golden Bears remained within striking distance at 21-13 at the midpoint of the second, but a 14-0 run in favor of the Cyclones spanning the next three minutes put ISU out front big at 35-13. CSP responded a bit with seven of the final 11 points of the quarter, including a couple of buckets from Jones, to make it 39-20 at the half.
 
Concordia closed the gap even more in the first few minutes of the second half as a two baskets in a row from Parsons plus a jumper from Nicks made it 42-26, but Iowa State once again had an answer. They scored eight of the next 10 to push the deficit back over 20. The Golden Bears showed some resilience as they closed it back to 16 with six straight of their own. The ISU lead eventually reached 20 again heading into the fourth quarter as they led 59-39 through three quarters.
 
After cutting it to 16 again early in the fourth, CSP went into a shooting drought over the final six minutes which saw the Cyclone lead reach its largest at 29 before Jordyn Dudley hit a three in the final minute to bring the game to a final score of 77-51.
 
The Golden Bears open up the regular season next weekend as they travel to Puerto Rico to take on Puerto Rico-Bayamon and Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras.