Women's Basketball | 2.12.15

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (14-10, 10-8 NSIC) finishes out their regular season home slate this weekend as Upper Iowa (6-16, 4-14 NSIC) and Winona State (17-5, 13-5 NSIC) come to town.

Saturday's game marks Senior Night as the Golden Bears will honor their four seniors in their final regular season home game. Anika Whiting, Amanda Barton, Ameshia Kearney and Asha Knight have combined to make 295 appearances in navy ang gold and helped lead the team to their first ever NCAA regional championship and first trip to the NCAA Elite Eight. In addition, the team has also collected an NSIC regular season championship in 2012-13 and an NSIC tournament title in 2013-14.

Whiting enters the weekend with 119 games played, 116 starts, and career averages of 15.6 points and 6.9 rebounds in her four seasons for the Golden Bears. Last month, Whiting surpassed Jennifer Pozzani as the all-time leading scorer at CU against UMD and surpassed Lisa Harfield as the leading rebounder in the DII-era against SCSU. Whiting now has 1,860 points and 818 rebounds in her career and her 684 field goals made and 448 free throws made rank first and second in program history, respectively. This season, she is averaging a team-high 15.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game in 24 games.

Barton, a transfer from Northern Iowa, has averaged 7.3 points and 4.1 rebounds in her three seasons for Concordia. In 62 career games, she has collected 452 points, 253 rebounds and 50 threes made. She is having her best season for the Golden Bears this year as she ranks fourth on the team in both scoring and rebounding with 8.0 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. Barton has connected on 43.9% from the floor, 33.8% from three and 79.2% from the free throw line in 22 games, eight starts, this season.

Kearney joined the Golden Bears last season after a transfer from Johnson County Community College and immediately made an impact in the lineup. She has averaged 12.4 points, 3.0 assists and 2.8 rebounds in her two seasons as she has picked up 759 points, 181 assists and 172 boards in 61 games. Her 34.6 minutes per game rank first in the DII-era at Concordia and her 103 threes made rank eighth in program history. Kearney has averaged 12.6 points, 3.9 assists, and 2.7 rebounds in 34.9 minutes in 24 games this season.

Knight has made 52 appearances over four seasons for the Golden Bears and has thrived in limited opportunities as she has averaged 1.4 points and 0.6 rebounds in 4.3 minutes per game. She is an efficient 50.9% (28-55) from the floor while hitting 44.4% from three (4-9) en route to scoring 72 points and grabbing 33 boards. Knight is averaging a career-best 2.6 points and 1.4 rebounds this season as she set a career high with 10 points against Minot State last Friday night.

THE MATCH-UPS... Concordia meets Upper Iowa for the 21st time in the all-time series. CU has dominated the series with 19 wins in the previous 20 meetings and a perfect 9-0 in St. Paul. Upper Iowa's only win in the series came back in January of 2012.

The Golden Bears have gone 28-12 in 40 previous meetings with Winona State heading into the weekend. CU has won 11 of 15 in St. Paul and three out of the last four in the series.

BACK ON DEC. 13... Concordia picked up a 75-62 win on the road at Upper Iowa.

Caitlyn Russell led the Golden Bears with a career-high 16 points in the win.

Kyrah Fredenburg and Jordyn Dudley picked up their first starts as Fredenburg scored 11 points, hit 3-5 from beyond the arc and 4-9 from the floor overall while pulling down six boards in 33 minutes and Dudley scored 12 points, hit 5-9 from the floor and 2-6 from three while also grabbing six rebounds in her 28 minutes.

CU was efficient from the floor as they hit 52.4% of their shots (33-63) while holding UIU to 33.8% (23-68).

BACK ON DEC. 12... Concordia dropped a tough 71-61 decision at McCown Gymnasium against Winona State.
 
Kearney played all 40 minutes and led the Golden Bears with 15 points on 5-8 shooting, knocking down 5-7 at the stripe. Jones finished with nine points, nine rebounds, five assists and just one turnover although she shot just 4-16 from the floor.

Both teams struggled from the floor in a defensive battle with WSU shooting 38.6% (22-57) to Concordia's 37.3% (22-59) although the Warriors were strong from the arc at 43.8% (7-16) with Concordia at 35.3% (6-17). The big difference in shooting came from the foul line as Concordia was outscored 20-11 in nine fewer attempts.

LAST TIME OUT... The Golden Bears handed Minnesota State their first home loss of the season with an 86-73 win.

Kearney's 27 point outburst matched Anika Whiting's effort at Bemidji State as the second highest scoring output of the season for the team and eclipsed her 26 point performance at Sioux Falls last season.

As a team, the Golden Bears were excellent on the offensive end as they hit 51.8% (29-56) from the floor and 79.3% from the free throw line (23-29) as they actively attacked the hoop.

RECORD HOLDERS... Last month, Whiting surpassed Jennifer Pozzani as the all-time leading scorer at CU against UMD and surpassed Lisa Harfield as the leading rebounder in the DII-era against SCSU. Whiting now has 1,860 points and 818 rebounds in her career and her 684 field goals made and 448 free throws made both rank second in program history.

After just two seasons at Concordia, Kionda Nicks entered this season as both the single-season and career leader in blocks as well as the single-season and career blocks per game record holder. Nicks has blocked a staggering 217 shots in 91 career games, 73 starts, to give her 2.38 blocks per game in her career. Nicks nearly doubled the single-season record last year when she blocked 104 shots for an average of 2.8 per game. This season, she has already collected 60 blocks, best in the NSIC and eighth in the nation, en route to an average of 2.5 per game.

BATTLE FOR THE TOP FOUR... Concordia enters the final two weeks of the regular season in a tie for fifth in the NSIC South with Augustana but sit just three games behind Winona State and Minnesota State for second place and a game behind Sioux Falls for fourth. With the top four teams earning a home game in the first round of the NSIC Tournament, the Golden Bears will have an opportunity to work their way up down the stretch.