WINONA, Minn. – The Concordia Golden Bears women's basketball team (12-14, 8-12 NSIC) settled with a road split after falling to #9 Winona State (25-2, 18-2 NSIC) by a score of 73-60 on Saturday afternoon.
The Warriors claimed the regular season sweep of the Golden Bears as they grabbed at least a share of their first NSIC Championship in program history heading into the last weekend of the regular season.
A long scoreless drought in the first half proved to be the difference as the Warriors pulled away from the Golden Bears. Concordia hit just 31.4% (22-70) from the floor for the game, including just 15.8% (3-19) in the second quarter. The Warriors, on the other hand, hit 40.0% (24-60) from the floor and 60.9% (14-23) from beyond the arc.
Anna Schmitt carried the scoring load for CSP as she scored 16 points on 5-16 shooting and 4-7 from deep while also chipping in four rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals in 37 minuts.
Schmitt was joined in double figures by
Kyrah Fredenburg and
Caitlyn Russell, who each scored 10 points in the loss. Fredenburg added eight boards, two assists and two steals while Russell put up four rebounds.
Connor Nagle led the Warriors with 19 points while Tara Roelofs added 18 and Alexis Foley poured in 16. Incredibly, Kayla Timmerman nearly triple-doubled with nine points, 11 rebounds and an unbelievable 11 blocks in 37 minutes of action.
It was the Golden Bears who delivered the first strike as they ran out to an 8-3 lead, but it wouldn't last long as the Warriors took over. Winona State grabbed 13 of the next 15 points to build a 16-10 lead midway through the first quarter. CSP broke the run with a three, but WSU answered back with a 7-0 run to close the quarter and take a 23-13 lead into the second.
The Warriors picked up where they left off to open the second as they hit three straight threes to make it a 16-0 run as a part of an even larger 29-5 run spanning eight minutes total. Concordia slowed down WSU and held them to just three points for the rest of the quarter, but couldn't capitalize as they didn't score their first points until the 4:13 mark of the second. Overall, it was a 10:17 stretch in which the Golden Bears were held scoreless. The Winona State lead reached as large as 35-15 late in the quarter before CSP scored the final five points to make it 35-20 at the half.
In the third, Concordia chipped away in the first few minutes as they eventually closed the gap back to single digits at 42-33 following a 13-5 run. That would be as close as they would get, however, as 10 of the next 11 points went in favor of Winona State. CSP eventually pulled within 13 later in the quarter before WSU went into the fourth up 59-42.
The lead for the Warriors ballooned back to 20 in the fourth at 69-49, but the Golden Bears made it respectable down the stretch with a strong run. Concordia went on an 11-2 run as they nearly pulled back within single digits before the last two points went in favor of WSU to bring it to the final score of 73-60.
Concordia closes out the regular season at home next weekend as they host Southwest Minnesota State and Sioux Falls.
