ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia University women's basketball team (12-10, 8-8 NSIC) evened their record in conference play as they cruised to an 80-45 win over Minot State (9-14, 4-13 NSIC) on Friday night at the Gangelhoff Center. Caitlyn Russell matched her career high with 16 points on 7-10 shooting for the Golden Bears.
 
Concordia excelled at both ends of the floor as they connected on 53.2% of their shots while holding the Beavers to 29.1% from the floor. More impressively, CU managed to shoot above 53.0% from the floor in each half while limiting Minot State to below 30.0% in each half.
 
The Golden Bears dominated in basically every aspect of the game as they held a 38-35 advantage on the glass, a 42-22 advantage in points in the paint as well as an 18-2 advantage on points off of turnovers.
 
In addition to Russell's 16 points off the bench, the Golden Bears received a balanced effort on the offensive end as they had five players in double figures in the game. Russell wasn't the only player to come off the bench to finish in double figures as Asha Knight was a perfect 3-3 from the floor, 2-2 from beyond the arc and 2-2 from the free throw line as she scored 10 points in just three minutes.
 
Anika Whiting contributed 14 points and six boards while Mishayla Jones filled up the stat sheet with 11 points, seven assists and six rebounds. Ameshia Kearney joined them in double figures with 10 points and four assists.
 
Katie Hardy and Alex Haley paced the Minot State offense with 10 points apiece in the loss.
 
After both teams combined to miss the first nine shots of the game, Concordia wasted no time to build a large lead as they opened the game on an 18-4 run spanning nearly six minutes. The Golden Bears kept their foot on the gas pedal as they didn't allow the lead to shrink below double digits the rest of the way.
 
Concordia pushed the lead out to as many as 17 points at 27-10 and again at 29-12 before settling in with a 38-23 advantage heading into the half.
 
Russell did most of her damage in the first half as she scored 13 points on 6-9 from the floor while grabbing three boards in 10 minutes of action before the break.
 
The lead ballooned to over 20 early in the second half as the Golden Bears continued to pour it on. The Beavers were unable to get much of anything going throughout the game as they couldn't shrink the deficit back below 20 the rest of the way.
 
Concordia's advantage eventually reached 30 in the closing minutes as they finished it out with their biggest advantage of the night at 35 with an 80-45 win.
 
The Golden Bears will look to carry momentum from the win into tomorrow afternoon as they are set to host U-Mary at 4 p.m.