ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (6-10, 2-8 NSIC) picked up an impressive 80-73 win over Minnesota Crookston (11-4, 8-3 NSIC) on Friday night at the Gangelhoff Center to give
Amanda Behnke her first win as head coach for the Golden Bears.
In addition to Behnke collecting her first win at the helm, it was a historic night for several Golden Bears on the court as well.
Perhaps most impressively,
Kyrah Fredenburg matched the DII-era record at Concordia with 21 rebounds in the win. Her mark matched
Amanda Behnke's program record set in the NCAA Region Tournament against Nebraska-Kearney back on March 10, 2007. Fredenburg, the NSIC leader in rebounds, also chipped in eight points on 3-5 shooting, including 2-3 from beyond the arc.
It was also a historic night for
Anna Schmitt as she shattered her career high with a game-best 29 points on an efficient 8-11 from the floor and 11-12 from the free throw line in 36 minutes of action. The freshman surpassed her previous career best of 22 by seven points as she also chipped in four assists and three steals.
A major catalyst in the win,
Mishayla Jones took the game over for stretches in the second half as she scored 17 of her 24 points after the break, including the final nine points for CSP to close out the third. The junior knocked down 9-18 from the field while hitting all five of her free throws. She also filled up the stat sheet with five boards and four assists as well.
As a team, CSP put up their second highest shooting percentage of the conference season as they knocked down 45.9% (28-61) from the floor along with 42.9% (6-14) from deep. Minnesota Crookston, on the other hand, knocked down 41.2% (28-68) from the field and 41.9% (13-31) from three-point range.
Alison Hughes paced the Golden Eagles offensively as she finished the night with 25 points and four assists as she hit 6-10 from beyond the arc. Alexa Thielman also put up 19 points and seven boards while Katrina Nordick put up 10 points and seven rebounds.
The Golden Bears set the tone from the start of the game as they responded to a Minnesota Crookston bucket to take the lead nearly for good at 5-2. They were able to run out to a 16-9 lead just past the midway mark of the opening quarter. UMC quickly closed the gap back to 16-13 with a pair of buckets and cut it down to two at 18-16 before CSP went into the second quarter with a 20-16 advantage.
The gap was closed to one in the opening moments of the second at 22-21, but Concordia surged again as they put home 14 of the next 16 points over a six and a half minute span to build a game-best 12 point advantage at 36-24. Once again the Golden Eagles had an answer as they scored the next eight in a row to bring it back to 36-32 with 1:40 left in the half. The two teams traded buckets down the stretch as CSP eventually settled with a 41-35 lead heading into the break.
Minnesota Crookston went on a 5-0 run to open the third quarter and make it 41-40 and they eventually pulled even at 45-45, but they were unable to pull ahead as Concordia seemed to have an answer to every run. CSP pushed their lead back to four with two straight baskets as Jones started to take over. Jones later hit a jumper with 1:56 left on the clock to make it 56-50 before putting home another bucket and draining a three to give the Golden Bears their largest lead of the quarter at 61-54 heading into the fourth.
Both teams were ice cold to open the fourth as the two teams combined for just three points through the opening 5:17 before a Schmitt broke the seal. Despite the extended scoring drought, UMC was able to pull even at 63-63 before taking their first lead since 2-0 at 68-67 with 2:04 left on the clock. Fredenburg buried a huge three to give CSP the lead back with 1:40 left before Schmitt iced it at the free throw line to give Concordia their second NSIC win at 80-73.
The Golden Bears will look to build off the victory as they take on Bemidji State on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. at the Gangelhoff Center.
