ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (13-15, 9-13 NSIC) dropped their regular season finale to Sioux Falls (23-5, 17-5 NSIC) by a score of 64-49 on Saturday afternoon.
Despite the loss, the Golden Bears held onto the fifth seed in the NSIC South and travel to St. Cloud State, the fourth seed in the NSIC North, on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. The winner of that matchup will advance to the NSIC Tournament Quarterfinals at the Sanford Pentagon over the weekend.
Sioux Falls, on the other hand, locked up the second seed and will host Minnesota Duluth on Wednesday night.
CU Women's BB vs Univ. of Sioux Falls 2.20.2016 - Images by
Justin Oakman
Concordia struggled from the floor as they hit just 34.5% (19-55) from the field and 11.8% (2-17) from beyond the arc. The Cougars, meanwhile, hit 46.3% (25-54) on the night.
USF also held a 38-26 edge in points in the paint and 11-5 edge in points off of turnovers in the win.
Mishayla Jones was a bright spot for the Golden Bears as she followed up her 25-point effort last night with 17 points on 6-13 shooting to go along with six rebounds and four assists.
Anna Schmitt joined Jones in double figures with 11 points while
Caitlyn Russell put up nine points on 4-6 from the floor off the bench for Concordia.
Sam Knecht carried the load for Sioux Falls as she finished with a game-high 23 points while she also chipped in six rebounds, three blocks and two steals. Alison Klostergaard and Teagan Molden each added 11 points apiece as well.
The Cougar defense proved to be stifling in the early going as Concordia was held without a field goal for the first 4:18 as USF built an early 6-1 lead. The Golden Bears battled back over the next few minutes as they pulled even at 8-8 before Sioux Falls jumped back out front. The USF lead reached as large as seven in the quarter at 20-13 before Jones hit a late three to make it 20-16 heading into the second.
The Golden Bears closed the gap to one early in the second as they remained within one possession for much of the quarter. The deficit sat at two with 4:35 left in the period and three with 1:17 left before the final five points went in favor of the Cougars to make the score 37-29 heading into the locker room.
Concordia managed to pull within five at 41-36 and again at 43-38 midway through the quarter, but that would be all the closer they would get as Sioux Falls pulled away from there. The lead hit double digits by the 3:15 mark and grew as large as 14 in the third before a Russell bucket made it 54-42 through three quarters.
The lead wouldn't shrink below 10 the rest of the night as USF ballooned their advantage as large as 17 late before settling with a final score of 64-49.
