ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (13-14, 9-12 NSIC) rode a strong first half to claim a 68-59 win over Southwest Minnesota State (5-22, 3-18 NSIC) at Gangelhoff Center on Friday night.
The Golden Bears connected on a scorching 62.1% (18-29) before the break before hitting just 36.7% (11-30) in the second half. CSP finished at 49.2% on the night while SMSU hit 44.2% (23-52) for the game.
Concordia also used an impressive 46-30 edge on points in the paint as well as 25-9 advantage in points off turnovers and 11-4 advantage on second chance points as the Golden Bears took advantage of their opportunities on the night.
Mishayla Jones and
Caitlyn Russell were a nearly unstoppable duo for the Golden Bears as the two of them combined to score 49 of the team's 68 points.
Jones matched a career-high with 25 points as she fell one assist short of being the first CSP player to put up 20+ points and 10+ assists in a game since 2013. The senior hit an efficient 10-13 from the floor and 3-3 from deep to go along with her nine assists, three boards and two steals.
Russell also matched a career best as she put up 24 points on 12-18 shooting while adding seven rebounds and three blocks. She put up an incredible stretch between the middle of the second quarter through part of the third quarter in which she scored 18 points in a row for Concordia.
Annessa Rosch finished as the only Mustang in double figures as she put up 17 points on 7-15 shooting and six rebounds in the loss.
The Golden Bears led from wire-to-wire as they scored the first five points of the game before quickly growing their lead to seven at 11-4 midway through the first. SMSU closed the gap back to four a few minutes later before CSP claimed a 16-9 lead after one quarter.
The lead continued to grow from there as it hit double digits by the 6:01 mark of the second with a score of 24-14. The lead reached as large as 16 at 32-16 before the Mustangs pulled back within 13 at the break with a score of 38-25.
Concordia continued to maintain a comfortable double digit advantage throughout the third quarter as the lead hovered between 13 and 16 for much of the period. SMSU managed to close the gap to 10 early in the period before CSP stretched it back out to as many as 16. The Mustangs, however, kept the Golden Bears off the board for the final 3:36 of the period as they shrunk the margin back to 11 at 50-39 heading to the fourth.
The Mustangs chipped away even more early in the fourth as they cut it to 53-46 with 7:26 to play. Concordia temporarily ballooned the lead back to 11 two minutes later, but SMSU went back on the offensive to trim it all the way down to four at 59-55 with 2:15 to play. That would be all the closer they would get as the Golden Bears finished strong to claim the 68-59 win.
CSP closes out the regular season tomorrow night as they take on Sioux Falls on Senior Night at 4 p.m.
