BISMARCK, N.D. – The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (11-13, 7-11 NSIC) outscored University of Mary (12-14, 6-12 NSIC) by 29 points in the second half to claim a 96-75 win on Saturday afternoon after trailing by eight at the half.
 
After falling behind 44-36 at the break, including being outscored 27-16 in the second quarter, the Golden Bears really turned it on in the second half as they put up an incredible 60 points in the final 20 minutes while allowing just 31.
 
CSP hit 47.4% in the first and just 35.7% in the second before firing at 52.9% in the third and a red-hot 71.4% in the fourth to finish the game at 51.6% (33-64). The Golden Bears nearly doubles their season-best in threes made in a game as they knocked down 15, including 10 in the second half. Their 15 threes fell one short of the program record and represented their highest mark since 2011. In addition, their 10 second-half threes surpassed their previous season-high for an entire game, which was nine.
 
Lauren Shifflett hit six threes for the third time this season while Mishayla Jones was nearly perfect from deep, knocking down five of her six attempts. Shifflett led CSP with 26 points and six assists while Jones finished with 21 points, four rebounds and four assists.
 
Anna Schmitt made it three Golden Bears with 20+ points as she finished with 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists as she hit 7-10 from the floor and 2-2 from three-point range. She now has nine 20+ point games on the year.
 
Hannah Vidlund also added nine points and a pair of threes while Kionda Nicks put up nine points, six rebounds and three blocks.
 
Brittany Dietz carried the scoring load for the Marauders as she poured in a game-high 28 points on 10-23 shooting while she also added nine boards and five assists.
 
The game was a game of runs from start to finish as the two teams traded blows from the opening tip. It was the Marauders who got off to the fast start as they built a 13-8 lead by the 5:08 mark, but the Golden Bears answered right back with a 10-0 run to grab a five point lead of their own. CSP remained out front by five in the final minute of the first before a U-Mary bucket right before the buzzer made it 20-17 after one quarter.
 
Concordia pushed their lead back to five in the opening moments of the second quarter at 25-20, but U-Mary slammed the door shut over the next four and a half minutes and put together a massive 16-0 run to take a 36-25 advantage. That would be their largest lead of the day as they matched that mark a few more times over the next few minutes before CSP cut it to 44-36 at the half.
 
Including scoring the last three points of the opening half, the Golden Bears used an extended 20-7 run to regain the lead midway through the third quarter at 53-51. A three put the Marauders back in front, but that would be their last lead of the game as it was all Concordia from there. CSP scored 12 of the next 17 to go up by six before taking a six-point lead at 68-62 into the fourth.
 
Between the end of the third and the start of the fourth, Concordia outscored U-Mary by 10 in a two minute span as they pushed their lead all the way to 13 as they looked to put the game away. The Marauders were unable to bring it back to single digits the rest of the way as CSP built a lead as large as 23 before cruising to a 96-75 win.