ST. PAUL, Minn. - This Sunday at 8 p.m., South Division third seed Concordia-St. Paul (19-10) will face North Division second seed Northern State (22-7) in the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament quarterfinals at the Sanford Pentagon.

PRE-TOURNAMENT VIDEO PREVIEW
Concordia athletics had a chance to visit with head coach Joey James, senior Terez VanPelt and junior Cole Olstad before Friday's practice with a 5-minute pre-tournament video recapping the stretch run, Wednesday's home playoff win over U-Mary and previewing the weekend action against Northern State at the Sanford Pentagon.

TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets for a single session (two games per session) are $16 for adults, $12 for seniors (65+), $6 for students and free for children 5 and under. Full day tickets (4 games) are $26 for adults, $20 for seniors (65+), $12 for students and free for children 5 and under. Tickets are available at the Sanford Pentagon box office or at Ticketmaster.com.

REGIONAL SHOWDOWN
The contest will carry additional weight as Northern State is ranked sixth and Concordia ninth in the latest NCAA Central Region Rankings. With Concordia winning and #8 Pittsburg State losing on Wednesday evening and Concordia already holding a victory over Northern State (plus NSU defeated Pitt State), the Golden Bears are picking up steam on the NCAA Tournament bubble but are still on the outside looking in and likely in need of additional victories or other teams taking losses for an at-large berth. In addition to needing to be in the region's top-8 for an NCAA Tournament bid, each league in the region (NSIC, MIAA, GAC) receives an automatic bid for conference tournament champions.

THE WINNER ADVANCES
Sunday night's winner will advance to the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament semifinals on Monday, March 2 at 8 p.m. against the winner of #4N Minnesota Duluth and #1S Augustana. The Vikings were NSIC Overall Co-Champions with MSU Moorhead and NSIC South Division Champions with the campus located in Sioux Falls although the team does not use Sanford Pentagon as its home court.

The semifinal winner will advance to the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament championship on Tuesday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m. at the Pentagon with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and a conference title on the line.

SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears trail Northern State 25-6 in the all-time series and 3-0 in the NSIC Tournament with all three tournament losses to the Wolves taking place on NSU's home floor in Aberdeen, S.D. Earlier this year, Concordia picked up its first win at Northern State in 18 trips to Wachs Arena, 66-65 in overtime on Terez VanPelt's game winning jumper with four seconds left just outside the right elbow.

TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Concordia is 3-11 all-time in the NSIC Tournament and 0-3 against Northern State. The Golden Bears snapped a 7-game game losing streak in the tournament with a first round home win over U-Mary on Wednesday night (78-65). It was Concordia's fourth NSIC Tournament home contest but the first home tournament win since its first home game in 2006-07 which was the last time Concordia won a tournament game. The Golden Bears have reached the NSIC Tournament semifinals twice, in 2004-05 and 2006-07 when the tournament was an 8-team field. Northern State has captured two NSIC Tournament championships, the last coming in 2004-05 and the Wolves are 17-9 all-time in the tournament.