ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (7-4, 3-2 NSIC) returns to action this week as they travel to #25 Northern State on Friday, Dec. 30 for a 6 pm start time and then traveling to MSU Moorhead on Saturday, Dec. 31 for a 4 pm tip-off.
 
Concordia's last game came back on Dec. 17 in a home match against Minnesota State. The Golden Bears fell to the Mavericks by a score of 68-86. CSP struggled shooting from the floor in the final three quarters while MSU shot 51.6 percent from the field. The loss snapped Concordia's three game winning streak and gave them their first home loss of the season. Lauren Shifflett led the way with 17 points which included four 3-pointers.
 
Scouting #25 Northern State (8-2, 4-2 NSIC)
LAST TIME OUT
Concordia's last game came back on Dec. 17 in a home match against Minnesota State. The Golden Bears fell to the Mavericks by a score of 68-86. CSP struggled shooting from the floor in the final three quarters while MSU shot 51.6 percent from the field. The loss snapped Concordia's three game winning streak and gave them their first home loss of the season. Lauren Shifflett led the way with 17 points which included four 3-pointers.
 
NSU SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears are 15-19 all-time against Northern State but neither team has been able to win more than two in a row since 2007-2008 when CSP won four straight matchups against the Wolves. Each team won their respective home game last season when the two played. NSU won the first six matchups in the series history that started back in 1994. After the first ever meeting, the two teams did not meet again until 2000.
 
LAST MEETING VS NSU
Concordia knocked off Northern State in their second meeting of the 2015-16 season by a score of 83-79 inside the Gangelhoff Center. The Golden Bears controlled the game on both ends of the floor as they converted on 45.0% (27-60) from the floor and limited the Wolves to just 34.8% (23-66) on the night.
 
Mishayla Jones was impressive for the Golden Bears as she led all scorers with 23 points and hit several big shots, including buzzer-beaters in both the first and second quarters. She also added six rebounds and three assists. Anna Schmitt also reached the 20-point plateau as she scored 20 while going 5-8 from the floor in an efficient evening. She went 8-12 from the free throw line and put up three boards and a pair of assists. Lauren Shifflett and Caitlyn Russell joined those two in double figures as Shifflett had 17 points and five rebounds while Russell double-double with 14 points and 10 boards to go along with three blocks.
 
Paige Waytashek led NSU with 22 points while Miranda Ristau added 21 points and 11 rebounds off the bench for the Wolves.
 
ABOUT THE WOLVES
The Wolves were picked to finish second overall in the preseason polls only one point behind Winona State and first in North Division standings. Northern State started the season 4-0, winning three of the first four games by more than 16 points. Following their four game win streak NSU dropped their first game of the season to MSU Moorhead at home by a score of 44-51. The Wolves responded with another four game winning streak following the loss to the Dragons. Their first two games following the loss Northern State won by 21 points.
 
Prior to the Christmas holiday, the Wolves had a rematch with MSU Moorhead but again the Dragons emerged victorious with a 69-66 win.
 
Miranda Ristau and Jill Conrad lead NSU with 15.4 and 15.2 points per game, respectively. They also lead the team in rebounding with Ristau pulling in 7.6 per game and Conrad grabbing 6.7 per game. Paige Waytashek ranks third on the team with 9.5 points per game and is currently tied for first on the team in minutes played per game with 31.1.
 
As a team, the Wolves place in the top-5 in 11 different statistical categories in the NSIC. They rank second in defensive field goal percentage as they are holding their opponents to a 33.0 shooting percentage.
 
Scouting MSU Moorhead (9-1, 6-0 NSIC)
MSUM SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears are 23-13 all-time against against MSU Moorhead but the Dragons have won the last three meetings between the two teams. The Golden Bears last win against MSUM came on Jan. 11, 2013 by a score of 76-70. CSP won four straight against the Dragons from 2009 to 2011. They also won five straight in 2006 through the 2007. MSU Moorhead won both meetings last year by an average of 15 points.
 
LAST MEETING VS MSUM
The Dragons topped Concordia by a score of 77-59 in their second meeting of the season at the Gangelhoff Center. The Golden Bears were held to just 36.2% (21-58) shooting and 30.4% (7-23) from deep in the loss while the Dragons connected on 40.3% (29-72) from the floor and 40.7% (11-27) from beyond the arc.
 
On a tough night offensively, Caitlyn Russell and Mishayla Jones led the way for the Golden Bears as they finished as the only two in double figures in scoring. Russell hit 7-13 from the floor to put up 14 points to go along with five boards, five blocks and three assists while Jones finished with 12 points and five assists. Kyrah Fredenburg continued her dominance on the glass as she fell a point shy of a double-double with nine points and 13 rebounds in the game.
 
It was a balanced attack for the Dragons as five players finished in double figures, led by Heather Striese's double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Savanna Handevidt was also impressive as she put up 14 points and eight boards.
 
ABOUT THE DRAGONS
The Dragons were picked to finish fifth overall in the preseason polls and second in North Division standings behind Northern State. MSU Moorhead dropped their first game of the season in a Central Region matchup with Harding by a score of 54-62. Since then, the Dragons have won nine straight games by a league leading average of 17.7 points per game. Their defense has been outstanding as they also rank second in the NSIC in scoring defense allowing only 52.4 points per game. MSU Moorhead has scored over 80 points in three games this season and scored a season high 102 points against Bemidji State on Dec. 10.
 
Prior to the Christmas holiday, the Dragons topped then #18 Northern State by three points which is their smallest margin of victory on the season in the 69-66 win.
 
Drew Sannes currently leads MSU Moorhead in scoring at 17.0 points per game which ranks second in the NSIC. She also leads the team in blocks with 24 and rebounds with 9.6 per game. Cassidy Thorson ranks second on the team and eighth in the NSIC in scoring coming in at 14.9 points per game. Jacky Volkert rounds out the double-digit scoring for the Dragons with 11.4 points per game.
 
As a team MSUM ranks better than their opponents in seven of eight combined statistical categories.
 
Key Stats
- The Golden Bears have seen several different players shine in different areas this season with four different players registering in as top-10 performers in 10 different statistical categories in the conference.
- Kyrah Fredenburg ranks second in rebounds per game at 10.5 while her 8.2 defensive rebounds per game ranks first and her 2.3 offensive rebounds per game ranks ninth. Fredenburg's 31.7 minutes per game ranks 10th in the NSIC.
- Anna Schmitt places in five categories as she ranks sixth in scoring (15.2 PPG), ninth in assists per game (3.9), 10th in field goal percentage (44.4%), eighth in free-throw percentage (81.8%) and fourth in minutes played per game (33.2).
- Caitlyn Russell's 1.4 blocks per game ranks ninth in the conference.
-Mishayla Jones ranks sixth in assists per game (4.1), fourth in steals per game (2.4) and seventh in minutes played per game (32.0).
-Live stats and video for this weekend's game can be found at the links above or on the Women's Basketball schedule page.