Women's Basketball | 2.17.16

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (12-14, 8-12 NSIC) finishes up the regular season at home this weekend as they play host to Southwest Minnesota State (5-21, 3-17 NSIC) on Friday and Sioux Falls (21-5, 15-5 NSIC) on Saturday.

SENIOR NIGHT
Saturday represents Senior Night as Concordia-St. Paul senior Kionda Nicks will be honored as the team's lone senior. Nicks enters the weekend as CSP's career leader in blocks with 259, a mark that is a full 114 higher than anyone else in program history. She also sits in a tie for seventh in games played (121), eighth in rebounds (635) and 13th in assists (228) as well in her four years in navy and gold. Nicks will be honored with an on-court presentation along with the men's basketball seniors prior to the tip-off at the men's game.

HOPE LODGE
Saturday afternoon's game also represents the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Pink Out for Hope Lodge Minnesota. Donations are being collected during both games on Saturday. The list of potential donations includes pantry items, cleaning supplies, bathroom toiletries, kitchen supplies, everyday necessities, and movies and books.

BEAR WEAR SALE
Concordia athletics will be launching an end of the year sale on all Bear Wear at this weekend's games. Featured items include Concordia Nike Golf Hats, Nike
Hooded and Crew Sweatshirts, Nike and Under Armour Polo's, Nike Men's and Women's Dri-Fits as well as Ladies Pullovers. Bear Wear will be set up at the top of the stairs near the concession stand.

SMSU SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears meet the Mustangs for the 49th time on the court as CSP holds a 33-16 record in the 48 previous meetings. Concordia has dominated the series since 2003 as they have gone 29-2 since then, including winning the last eight games in a row.

LAST MEETING VS SMSU
Back on January 23rd, CSP claimed a 78-70 win in Marshall.

The Golden Bears had an efficient evening from the floor as they knocked down 46.0% (29-63) of their shots, 44.4% (8-18) from three and a perfect 100.0% (12-12) from the free throw line as CSP held the Mustangs to 39.7% (25-63) in the win.

Concordia's offense featured a balanced attack as all five starters broke the double digit mark in scoring. Lauren Shifflett led the way with 22 points as she hit 8-14 from the floor and 6-10 from deep. She also added four assists and three steals.

Anna Schmitt put up 13 points, five boards and four assists while Mishayla Jones added 12 points and four assists. Caitlyn Russell also chipped in 12 points and five rebounds. Kyrah Fredenburg, the NSIC leader in rebounds, notched another double-double as she grabbed a team-best 12 rebounds to go along with 10 points and five steals in a full line for CSP.
 
USF SERIES HISTORY
Concordia holds a record of 6-3 against the Cougars, including a record of 5-2 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 and USF added another home win earlier this year.

LAST MEETING VS USF
Back on January 22nd, Concordia had their three-game winning streak snapped as they were handed a 69-64 loss at Sioux Falls.

The Golden Bears held the Cougars to just 33.3% (21-63) from the floor, but were unable to overcome a 50-33 rebounding deficit as Sioux Falls controlled the glass. USF corralled 14 offensive rebounds while CSP had just one on the night.
 
Caitlyn Russell carried the scoring load for the Golden Bears as she poured in a career high with 24 points on 9-15 shooting and 6-9 from the charity stripe in 31 minutes of action.

Lauren Shifflett joined Russell in double figures as she scored 12 points on 4-8 from the field and 3-5 from deep as she also chipped in two rebounds and two steals in the loss.

LAST TIME OUT
Over the weekend, Concordia split on the road at Upper Iowa and #9 Winona State.

On Friday, the Golden Bears dominated in transition as they outscored the Peacocks 21-4 in points off of turnovers and 19-2 on the fastbreak in a 71-55 win.

On Saturday, the Golden Bears were held scoreless for 10:17 in the first half as they fell short in a 73-60 loss to the Warriors.

Anna Schmitt led the way in the two games as she averaged a team-best 15.5 points and 3.5 points while Lauren Shifflett put up 15.0 points. Kyrah Fredenburg also added to her league lead in rebounding with 12.0 boards.

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 nine different statistical categories in the conference.

Kyrah Fredenburg leads the way with a league-leading 10.7 boards per game. Her mark is a full 1.8 rebounds higher than any other player in the NSIC.

Anna Schmitt ranks highly in a a few categories as she ranks fourth in scoring (15.3 PPG) and sixth in assists per game (3.8) as well as 14th in field goal percentage (47.8%). She leads all freshman in the league in all three categories.

Lauren Shifflett also rank in the top-10 in a pair of categories as  she ranks fourth in three made per game (2.3) and ninth in scoring (14.8).

In addition, Caitlyn Russell ranks fourth in blocked shots (1.8) and seventh in field goal percentage (50.9%) while Kionda Nicks ranks ninth in blocks (1.4) as well.

Mishayla Jones also ranks fifth in assists per game (3.9).