WAYNE, Neb. – The Concordia women's basketball team (5-3, 1-1 NSIC) bounced back with an 86-66 win at Wayne State (5-2, 0-2 NSIC) on Saturday evening for their first conference win of the season.
Leading the way for CSP was
Anna Schmitt who scored a team-high 16 points while pulling in six rebounds, and dishing out six assists.
Mishayla Jones tallied 15 points (3-5 3FG), grabbed five rebounds, dished out four assists, and stole six passes which ties her career-high.
Lindsay Dorr notched 15 points off the bench and
Lauren Shifflett rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points and four steals for the Golden Bears.
In the first quarter of play both teams combined for 45 points, 23-22 in favor of the Wayne State. There were six lead changes and the game was tied three times in the first 10 minutes of played.
Lauren Shifflett kicked off the high scoring quarter burying a corner 3-pointer on the Golden Bears first possession of the game and then
Mishayla Jones would add another 3-pointer on the following possession. Wayne State would respond with a pair of threes a few possessions later making it a back-and-forth first quarter.
Both teams shot the ball extremely well in the first quarter as CSP was 9-16 (56.3%) from the floor and WSC was 8-14 (57.1%) from the floor. The Wildcats also went 3-4 from downtown during the opening frame.
In quarter number two, Concordia's hot shooting from downtown continued as they went 4-7 (57.1%) from beyond the arc and their pressure defense caused problems for Wayne State as they did not allow the Wildcats a single 3-pointer the rest of the game.
For the Golden Bears,
Kayla Miller went 2-2 from downtown in the second quarter while
Kyrah Fredenburg drained a very deep triple as the shot clock was winding down and
Mishayla Jones sank a 3-pointer with seven seconds left in the first half to give CSP a 44-39 halftime lead. The Golden Bears outscored the Wildcats 22-16 in the quarter.
Coming out of halftime break, Concordia continued to hold a small lead and Wayne State would get as close as three midway through the quarter. After a pair of free throws by the Wildcats to cut the CSP lead to just four with 3:05 left in the quarter, the Golden Bears would use a 9-2 run over the next two minutes to give them their first double-digit lead of the game.
CSP would lead 64-56 heading into the final quarter of play. The Golden Bears would force eight turnovers in the third quarter. The Wildcats would go a perfect 9-9 from the free-throw line for the quarter.
The final frame of the game belonged to Concordia as they outscored Wayne State 22-10 and would lead by as much as 22. The Concordia defense held WSC to 3-14 (21.4%) shooting in the final quarter while they countered by going 6-11 (54.5%) from the floor. CSP was also a perfect 7-7 from the charity stripe in the final frame.
Hanna Vidlund went a perfect 2-2 from beyond the arc in the final 10 minutes for the Golden Bears.
CSP would finish the game 61.1 percent (11-18) from beyond arc which ranks second all-time in program history for a single game. Four players drained a pair of triples and Jones led the team with three triples made.
The Golden Bears forced 18 Wildcat turnovers and converted for 26 points off turnovers. WSC only came away with nine points off turnovers. CSP also got 29 points from the bench in the win while Wayne State only recorded eight bench points.
Paige Ballinger led the way for WSC with a game-high 18 points and pulled in seven rebounds. Ana Martensen added 16 points and a game-high nine rebounds, while Maggie Schulte notched 12 points and Kacie O'Connor finished with 10 points for the Wildcats.
Concordia now moves to 19-18 all-time against Wayne State.
CSP returns to action next weekend as they return home for a pair of conference games against Upper Iowa on Friday, Dec. 9 at 6 pm and then take on #16 Winona State on Saturday, Dec. 10 at 4 pm.
