Women's Basketball | 1.20.16

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (8-10, 4-8 NSIC) hits the road after five in a row at home as they travel to Sioux Falls (14-4, 8-4 NSIC) and Soutwest Minnesota State (3-15, 1-11 NSIC) this weekend in NSIC play.

USF SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears hold a record of 6-2 against the Cougars, including a record of 5-1 in NSIC play. After USF won the first meeting, CSP rattled off six wins in a row since Sioux Falls joined the league back in 2012. The two teams split the two meetings last season as each team won on their home court.

LAST MEETING VS USF
Last year, CSP dropped their regular season finale in a thrilling double overtime game at the Stewart Center against Sioux Falls by a score of 87-79.

The Golden Bears erased a double-digit second half deficit, led by Anika Whiting's 21 points in the second half, but they couldn't get over the top to grab the win. Whiting scored a career-best 33 points in the loss.

Ameshia Kearney and Mishayla Jones were the only other Golden Bears in double figures as Kearney finished with 18 points, four boards and four assists while Jones had 14 points and 10 rebounds for her second career double-double.

After a strong first half shooting, the Golden Bears shot below 30.0% in both the second half and overtime as they finished the game shooting 35.6% (26-73).
 
SMSU SERIES HISTORY
Concordia and Southwest Minnesota State have met 48 times in the all-time series as the Golden Bears enter into this weekend's matchup with a record of 32-16. The Golden Bears have been especially dominant since 2003 as they have snagged 28 wins in the past 30 meetings. Dating back to 2012, CSP has won the past seven meetings.

LAST MEETING VS SMSU
Last season in Marshall, the Golden Bears picked up an 80-64 road win at Southwest Minnesota State.

The Golden Bears were led by Ameshia Kearney's 27 points, tying a career-high. Anika Whiting also surpassed the 20-point mark with 21 points in the win.

The big difference was free throw shooting as Concordia reached the foul line 14 more times, scoring 17 more points. The Golden Bears were 25-33 (75.8%) while SMSU was just 8-19 (42.1%).

Concordia also only turned the ball over eight times while dishing out 16 assists and forcing 12 Mustang turnovers. That led to Concordia outscoring SMSU 22-11 off turnovers and 10-2 in transition.

LAST TIME OUT
On Tuesday night, the Golden Bears extended their winning streak to three with a 73-64 win over Minnesota State.

Kyrah Fredenburg put up a double-double with 13 points and 20 rebounds on the night. Fredenburg's 20 rebound effort was her second in the past three games as she made it three in a row with at least 16 boards. She now holds two of the top three and three of the top seven rebounding performances in the DII-era at Concordia, all of which have come in the last three games.

Anna Schmitt also remained red hot as she scored a game-high 22 points to go along with four rebounds and three assists.

NSIC LEADERS
The Golden Bears have seen several different players shine in different areas this season with six different players registering in as top-10 performers in seven different statistical categories in the conference.

Kyrah Fredenburg leads the way with a league-leading 9.6 boards per game. Her mark is incredibly 2.1 rebounds higher than any other player in the NSIC.

Anna Schmitt ranks highly in multiple categories as she ranks sixth in scoring (16.0 PPG), seventh in assists per game (3.8), ninth in field goal percentage (50.0%) and and while also ranking 11th in steals per game (1.7). She leads all freshman in the league in each category.

Mishayla Jones ranks in the top-10 in a pair of categories as she sits in fifth in both assists per game (4.0) and steals per game (2.0).

In addition, Caitlyn Russell ranks eighth in blocked shots (1.5) and Kionda Nicks ranks 10th in the same category (1.2) while Lauren Shifflett rounds out the group with the 10th most three-pointers made per game (1.9).