WAYNE, Neb. – The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (5-2, 1-0 NSIC) opened up NSIC play with an impressive road win at Wayne State (4-3, 1-1 NSIC) on Friday night. The Golden Bears held the Wildcats to 27.1% shooting to pick up the win.
 
The win gives CSP a slight 18-17 edge in what has been a very competitive series with WSC. The Golden Bears also grabbed their fifth win in seven meetings overall and sixth win in 16 meetings to Wayne.
 
Concordia's defense was stifling as their pressure gave Wayne State trouble and the Golden Bear offense was nearly as effective as the defense as the team put up a solid performance all-around. While the Wildcats hit just 27.1% (19-70) of their shots and 26.7% (4-15) of their threes, CSP knocked down 43.9% (29-66) from the floor and 30.8% (4-13) from beyond the arc.
 
As has been the case for much of the season, Concordia' bench gave the team a huge lift as they outscored WSC 37-14 in bench points. In addition, the Golden Bears dominated in the paint with a 38-22 advantage in points in the paint.
 
Off the bench, Anna Schmitt and Caitlyn Russell were electric as Schmitt led all scorers with 19 points on 7-11 shooting to go along with four boards and four assists while Russell put up 15 points, eight rebounds and three blocks while hitting 6-11 from the floor.
 
The starting unit was also productive as Kionda Nicks the way and filled up the stat sheet with 13 points, eight boards, six assists, three blocks and two steals. Lauren Shifflett and Hanna Vidlund each added 10 points while Kyrah Fredenburg chipped in nine rebounds as well.
 
For the Wildcats, Anna Martensen double-doubled with 10 points and 12 boards while Maggie Schulte led the team with 15 points.
 
The Golden Bears set the pace from the opening tip as they turned up the pressure and pushed the pace in the game. The pressure resulted in a lead as large as five in the first before the Wildcats ended the period on a 14-3 run to take a 26-19 lead as they appeared to be taking over.
 
The Golden Bears had different plans as they came out firing in the second quarter and evened it up just over three minutes in and took the lead by the midway point. WSC temporarily went back in front before Concordia claimed the final five points of the half to go into the break with a 44-41 advantage.
 
That proved to be a lead that CSP wouldn't relinquish as they allowed Wayne State to pull within one at 44-43 and again at 46-45 before going on another run to push their lead to as large as 11 at 57-46 before settling with a 58-48 lead heading into the fourth.
 
The Wildcats cut the lead to eight with a basket to open the fourth quarter, but they wouldn't get any closer as Concordia quickly pushed their lead back to double figures and put the game away. The two teams traded buckets for most of the period before CSP pulled away late and extended their lead to as large as 18 en route to closing out the road victory 74-59.