ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (11-10, 7-8 NSIC) returns to the Gangelhoff Center as Minot State (9-13, 4-12 NSIC) and U-Mary (8-14, 6-10 NSIC) come to town for the weekend. Tip-off on Friday against the Beavers is at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 4 p.m. against the Marauders.

The Golden Bears will host a PINK OUT for Hope Lodge to support cancer research specifically through the Hope Lodge Minneapolis. Fans are encouraged to donate either via cash or items listed on the Hope Lodge Wish List.

Concordia is also hosting Golden Bear Bash alumni night on Friday night with free admission, appetizers, beverages and activities in Comet's Kid Zone for Concordia alumni as well as their families. Registration is available online via the Alumni Association website.

The festivities continue on Saturday night as the athletic department will host Bowling for Bears after the conclusion of the men's game. Bowling for Bears includes three games of bowling, shoe rental and a beverage for just $25 with the goal of raising funds for the athletic department. Visit the Alumni Association website or contact Brian Jamros to sign up for the event.

THE MATCH-UPS... Concordia holds a perfect 3-0 record against Minot State heading into Friday's matchup. The Beavers are in just their third season in the NSIC and the Golden Bears have won both of the NSIC clashes between the two schools. CU also knocked Minot State out of the NSIC Tournament last season.

Concordia faces U-Mary for the 15th time in the all-time series on Saturday with the Golden Bears going 9-5 in the 14 previous meetings. CU has won four out of the last five in the series and 5-1 in meetings in St. Paul. CU has won eight of 12 NSIC meetings.

LAST YEAR VS MINOT... Concordia-St. Paul defeated Minot State 73-52 in the NSIC Tournament quarterfinals en route to winning the tournament championship.

The Golden Bears did an excellent job of takng care of the ball with only four turnovers in the game while also forcing 13. CU held Minot State to over 20 points below their season average as they held them to just 33.9% from the floor. Concordia also held advantages in points off turnovers, fast break points, bench points and assists.

Anika Whiting paced the CU attack with 19 points on an efficient 7-12 shooting as she also pulled in nine boards.

LAST YEAR VS U-MARY... Concordia's defense led the way in a 74-55 win over U-Mary at the Gangelhoff Center.
 
The Golden Bears held the Marauders to just 25.3% shooting for the game and 18.5% from beyond the arc as they pulled away in the second half in the win.  CU dominated around the rim as, outscoring U-Mary by a margin of 34-18 in the paint.  Concordia also doubled up Mary in the blocks category by a mark of 10 to 5.

Anika Whiting led the Golden Bears with 21 points and just missed the double-double with nine boards.  Rachel Hansen wasn't far behind as she filled the stat sheet with 18 points eight boards and six assists.

LAST TIME OUT... Last weekend, the Golden Bears were swept by MSU Moorhead and Northern State on the road.

The offense sputtered as Concordia scored a season-low 51 points on Friday and 49 points on Saturday.

CU hit a season-worst 30.4% from the floor on Friday as MSUM was nearly perfect at the FT line, hitting 26-27 in a 63-51 MSUM win.

Concordia took a four point lead with under 10 to play on Saturday, but NSU shut them down the rest of the way in a 54-49 loss.

RECORD HOLDERS... Earlier this month, Whiting surpassed Jennifer Pozzani as the all-time leading scorer at CU against UMD and surpassed Lisa Harfield as the all-time leading rebounder against SCSU. Whiting now has 1,820 points and 794 rebounds in her career and her 666 field goals made and 444 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 215 shots in 88 career games, 70 starts, to give her 2.44 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 58 blocks, best in the NSIC and eighth in the nation, en route to an average of 2.76 per game.

ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT... Anika Whiting was named Capital One Academic All-District Second Team this week. Whiting holds a 3.95 GPA as a biology major at Concordia. She has recently received the 2014-15 NSIC Myles Brand Academic with Distinction Award as well as being named a Top-4 student-athlete at Concordia. The senior has also been named NSIC All-Academic twice heading into this year.