MANKATO, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (5-6, 1-4 NSIC) nearly erased a 22-point fourth quarter deficit as they fell just short in a 92-87 loss at Minnesota State (3-6, 2-3 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon at Taylor Center.
The Golden Bears trailed by double digits for nearly the entire second half, including an 83-61 deficit with 7:01 to play, before making a furious comeback down the stretch to make it a one possession game in the final minute before running out of time.
Concordia's offense heated up as the game went on as they improved their shooting percentage each quarter. CSP hit 28.6% (6-21) in the first, 30.4% (7-23) in the second, 50.0% (9-18) in the third and 60.9% (14-23) in the fourth. Conversely, after MSU shot at least 43.8% in each of the first three quarters, CSP's defense held them to just 37.5% (6-16) in the fourth. For the game, the Golden Bears finished at 42.4% (36-85) while the Mavericks finished at 44.9% (31-69).
The biggest reason for the huge discrepancy in shots attempted between the two teams was turnovers. The Golden Bears continued to put the heat on their opponent as they forced 18 turnovers while they committed only six, making them an amazing +12 in that category for the game. Even more amazingly, that differential led to a lopsided 15-0 advantage in points off turnovers.
That difference wouldn't be enough, however, as Minnesota State held a 57-35 advantage in rebounding, including a 14-8 advantage in offensive boards. The rebounding difference resulted in a 13-9 advantage in second chance points for MSU.
The starting five carried much of the load on the day for Concordia as the quintet all played at least 28 minutes while four of the five played at least 34 minutes. The five all scored in double figures and combined to score 80 of CSP's 87 points in the game.
Leading the way, Lauren Shiflett and
Anna Schmitt each broke the 20-point mark as Shifflett finished with a team-best 23 points and Schmitt added 20 points. Shifflett hit five threes and Schmitt chipped in five boards, five assists and three steals as well.
Kyrah Fredenburg and
Kionda Nicks were productive down low as they both posted double-doubles on the afternoon. Fredenburg finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds while Nicks put up 12 points, 10 boards, four blocks and two assists in a full line.
Rounding out the starting five,
Mishayla Jones also filled the stat sheet with 11 points, six assists, six steals and three rebounds on the day.
For the Mavericks, Claire Ziegler poured in 29 points while Britney Scherber amassed 26 points in a winning effort.
The first quarter was back and forth as it featured six ties and a pair of lead changes as both teams jockeyed to build an early advantage. After CSP led 6-4 in the opening minutes, MSU went ahead with a 4-0 run and remained even or tied for the rest of the period. The Mavericks led by as many as four late in the quarter as they went into the second with a 21-17 lead.
The Golden Bears turned the momentum in their favor early in the second quarter as they embarked on a 13-3 run over a span of 5:47 to build their largest lead of the day at 30-24. That lead would be short-lived as Minnesota State scored the next nine points to go back out front. The MSU run would continue for the rest of the half as it ended up being a 21-4 run to make it 45-34 in favor of the Mavericks at the half.
In the opening minutes of the second half, the lead hit 16 as the Mavericks appeared to be pulling away. Concordia answered with a run of their own as they cut their deficit all the way to single digits with 14 of the next 20 points to make it 56-48 with 4:39 to play in the third. That would be all the closer CSP was able to get in the third as Minnesota State immediately pushed their lead back to double digits to go into the fourth with a 68-55 advantage.
The Mavericks looked to have sealed the win in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter as they extended their lead to the largest lead of the afternoon at 22 with a score of 83-61. Amazingly, the Golden Bears had other plans as they had the lead back to 10 with 1:56 left at 87-77 and down to three with 25 seconds left at 88-85. All in all, it was a massive 24-5 run as they knocked down 10-15 shots in that span while MSU hit only 1-11. After a foul, the Mavericks hit 1-2 at the line to extend it to 89-85 but CSP was unable to capitalize on their next possession. MSU once again hit one 1-2 to push it to five before a layup from Schmitt cut it back to three. Minnesota State pushed it right back to five at 92-87 with six seconds left before CSP missed a three on the other end to bring the game to a conclusion.
CSP remains on the road after the New Year as they travel to Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State on Jan. 2-3.
