SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Concordia-St. Paul women's Basketball team (14-16), the fifth seed in the NSIC South, fell just short against #8 Winona State (29-2), the top seed in the NSIC South, as a late WSU rally proved to be the difference in a 68-64 loss.
 
The Golden Bears dropped to 24-9 in 13 trips to the NSIC Tournament and 10-2 in quarterfinal games with the heartbreaking loss. They also fell to 28-16 against the Warriors as WSU extended their winning streak to five in the series.
 
The trio of Anna Schmitt, Mishayla Jones and Caitlyn Russell carried the bulk of the scoring load for Concordia as they combined for 52 of CSP's 68 points on the night.
 
Schmitt hit surpassed 20 points for the 11^th time on the season as she finished with a game-high 21 points on 9-15 from the floor to go along with six rebounds, three assists and two steals.
 
Jones followed close behind with 16 points and five boards while Russell chipped in 15 points and eight rebounds.
 
Kionda Nicks picked up a block and two rebounds to close out her career with 264 blocks and 647 rebounds. Her blocks mark is easily the top in program history while she ranks seventh in rebounds and third in games played with 125.
 
Concordia hit 42.9% (27-63) on the night while Winona State connected of 44.1% (26-59). The fourth quarter proved to be the difference as CSP hit 29.4% in the final quarter while WSU hit 60.0% in that span.
 
Alexis Foley led the Warriors with 18 points while Jenny Weiland added 15 points off the bench for Winona State.
 
The Golden Bears got off to a strong start on both ends as they scored the first four points of the game and held WSU scoreless for the opening 2:49. The lead remained at four at 7-3 before the Warriors rattled off a 9-0 run spanning over six minutes to gain their first lead. Jones broke the streak with a late bucket to cut it to 12-9 after the first.
 
Concordia cut the lead to one in the opening moments of the second quarter, but the Warriors fired back with a quick 7-2 run to build their largest lead of the half at 19-13. CSP cut it back to one with the next five points before six of the next eight went in favor of Winona State to push the gap back to five heading into the final minute of the half. The Golden Bears closed out strong, however, as they grabbed a pair of buckets in the final 37 seconds to bring it back to one at 25-24 heading into the locker room.
 
The third quarter could not have started much better for the Golden Bears as they scored the first eight points of the half to make it a 12-0 run overall as they built a 32-25 lead. Concordia continued to maintain that lead throughout much of the quarter as it remained at least a two possession lead the rest of the way. The Warriors closed the gap to five on a few different occasions before Concordia grabbed six of the last eight points of the period to head to the fourth with a 51-42 advantage.
 
The Warriors started chipping away at the lead in the fourth as they held the Golden Bears without a field goal for the first 6:38 of the period. During that span, Winona State rattled off an 11-2 run to even the score at 53-53. After a bucket from Jones, WSU completed their second three-point play in as many possessions to give the Warriors their first lead since the early portion of the second half. The lead changed hands several times over the next few minutes before the Warriors took the lead for good with a 9-2 run to make it 66-60. Concordia rallied with two straight layups from Schmitt but it wasn't enough as Nagle closed it out at the line to bring it to a 68-64 final.