DULUTH, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (5-7, 1-5 NSIC) was unable to pick up a win in interim head coach Amanda Behnke's debut as they took a 74-64 loss at Minnesota Duluth (3-7, 3-4 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Golden Bears played the Bulldogs even through the first, second and fourth quarters, but were done in by a tough third quarter in which UMD outscored CSP by 10 to force Behnke to wait at least one more day to pick up her first win at the helm. Minnesota Duluth hit a red-hot 64.3% (9-14) in the decisive third quarter while Concordia knocked down just 30.8% (4-13) in the period.
 
For the game, UMD hit nearly half their shots from the floor as they hit 49.1% (26-53) while CSP connected on 36.2% (21-58) on the day. Minnesota Duluth also held an edge from deep as they hit 36.8% (7-19) while Concordia hit 29.4% (5-17). In addition, the Bulldogs used a 41-29 advantage on the glass to help guide them to victory.
 
Anna Schmitt continued to light up the scoreboard as she matched her career high en route to leading all scorers with 22 points as she hit 6-13 from the floor and 8-11 from the free throw line on the day. It marked the fourth time on the season and third time in four games that she surpassed the 20-point plateau as she brought her season average up to 14.4 points per game. She also added five boards and three assists while committing just one turnover.
 
No other Golden Bears hit double figures as it was a balanced attack between the rest of the squad. All eight players that played registered points while six of the eight players put up at least six points. Kyrah Fredenburg continued to clean the glass as she led the team with six rebounds to go along with eight points. Mishayla Jones and Courtney Lyons also added eight points apiece.
 
The Bulldogs produced an even more balanced offensive effort as they had five players score ten points or more on the day. Anna Monke led the team with 14 points while Sammy Kozlowski contributed 10 points, four boards, four assists and two steals.
 
The Golden Bears got off to a bit of a slow start as they saw the Bulldogs score the first five points of the game to build an early lead. CSP rebounded to even it up at 8-8 before taking their first lead of the day at 13-12 with 4:12 left in the opening quarter. That lead reached three at 18-15 before UMD hit a bucket right before the buzzer to make it 18-17 after the first.
 
Concordia added to their lead to open the second quarter with six of the first eight points to go up 24-19 before the Bulldogs stormed back. They tied it up with just over three minutes left in the half at 26-26 before regaining the down the stretch to build a lead as large as 34-29 in the final minute as Minnesota Duluth went into the half with a 34-31 advantage.
 
The deficit continued to grow in the third quarter for the Golden Bears as Minnesota Duluth's lead hit double digits three and a half minutes in at 43-33. Concordia shrunk the gap back to two possessions at 47-41 and again at 49-43 but they were unable to pull any closer as the lead reached its largest to that point at the end of the quarter with a score of 58-45.
 
After UMD opened the fourth on a 7-3 run, the lead ballooned to 17 as the Bulldogs appeared to have the game put out of reach. They remained up by 16 at 67-51 with 4:42 left on the clock but were held scoreless over the next 2:50 as the Golden Bears stormed back with 12 in a row to pull within four. UMD turned the tables down the stretch however as they held CSP to just one point over the final 1:52 as they handed Concordia the 74-64 loss.
 
Concordia will look to get back in the win column tomorrow afternoon as they travel to St. Cloud State for a 2 p.m. tip-off.