ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (13-7, 9-5 NSIC) complete their four game road trip this weekend as they travel to Bemidji State on Friday, Jan. 27 before going to Minnesota Crookston on Saturday, Jan. 28. Game times are at 6 pm and 4 pm, respectively.
 
LAST TIME OUT
CSP came away with their first road weekend sweep of the season with a 67-63 win at Southwest Minnesota State and a big upset and South Division win at Sioux Falls by a score of 62-51.
 
Concordia led by double digits nearly the entire game against SMSU but with five minutes left remaining in regulation and an 18 point lead, SMSU put together a 16-0 run over the next four minutes to pull within two with just over one minute left in the game.
 
After a defensive stop by the Mustangs, Concordia had to rely on their defense to prevent SMSU from tying the game or taking the lead. As Sarah Buysse attempted tying layup, Caitlyn Russell blocked the ball into the hands of Kyrah Fredenburg and then CSP would make 6-6 free throws to escape with the 67-63 win.
 
Anna Schmitt led the way with a game-high 24 points while adding three rebounds and five assists. Caitlyn Russell added 17 points, nine rebounds and four blocks. Lauren Shifflett and Lindsay Dorr each tallied eight points for Concordia. 
 
The Mustangs were led by Lauren Hedlund who scored a team-high 19 points while also grabbing seven rebounds. Taylor Holicky added 10 points and seven rebounds for SMSU.
 
Against Sioux Falls, the Golden Bears finished the game shooting 42.9% (18-42) from the field and from 3-point range (6-14). They did struggle shooting from free-throw line as they shot 60.6% (20-33).
 
USF started off the game shooting the ball extremely well but would go cold in the final three quarters as they shot 36.5% (19-52) from the field and 20.8% (5-24) from distance.
 
Caitlyn Russell had an outstanding game for the Golden Bears scoring a game-high 22 points, pulling in 10 rebounds and blocking five shots. Russell's five blocks tied her career-high. Anna Schmitt added 20 points on 6-9 shooting and a pair of assists. Mishayla Jones finished with 10 points, four rebounds and three assists. Kyrah Fredenburg pulled in a game-high 12 rebounds.
 
Sioux Falls was led by Sam Knecht who scored a team-high 13 points. Brooke Smith finished with 12 points for the Cougars while adding four rebounds and four assists.
 
With the two wins the Concordia winning streak has extended to six games.
 
Scouting Bemidji State (6-12, 3-11 NSIC)
BSU SERIES HISTORY
CSP and BSU will meet for the 40th time on Friday. Concordia is 28-11 all-time against the Beavers having won 12 of the last 13 meetings. Concordia is 25-2 against Bemidji State since 2001.
 
LAST MEETING VS BEMIDJI STATE
The Golden Bears won both matchups against BSU last season. In the second meeting against the Beavers, Concordia won by a score of 83-76.
 
The Golden Bears led nearly wire-to-wire as they dominated play for the second night in a row. Concordia controlled nearly every facet of the game as they held the edge in rebounding (38-35, including 10-8 offensive), second chance points (11-3), points in the paint (34-28), and turnovers forced (16-13), and points off of turnovers (26-16).
 
Concordia also held a narrow advantage in shooting percentage as they knocked down 44.6% (29-65) from the floor compared to 44.3% (27-61) for the Beavers. CSP also hit an impressive 52.9% (9-17) from deep as well as 88.9% (16-18) from the free throw line.
 
Lauren Shifflett was lights out from the floor as she knocked down eight of her 14 shots, including a red-hot 6-9 from deep, to finish with a game-high 23 points in the win.
 
Mishayla Jones delivered another dominant performance to close out a big weekend as put up a full line of 19 points, seven boards, four assists and two steals in 37 minutes of action.
 
Anna Schmitt also put up another huge night as she hit the 20-point mark for the sixth time this season and second time in a row. She contributed 20 points on an efficient 6-11 shooting to go along with five assists.
 
The Beavers saw four of their five starters score at least 13 points, led by Hanna Zerr's 18. Sierra Senske picked up a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds for Bemidji State as well.
 
ABOUT THE BEAVERS
Bemidji State is currently seventh in the North Division standings with a 6-12 overall record and 3-11 conference record.
 
BSU started off the season with a 3-1 record against non-conference but struggled once NSIC play began as they lost eight straight conference games.
 
The losing streak was snapped with a very impressive road win at Minnesota Duluth and since the losing streak, BSU is 3-3 in their last six games.
 
The Beavers are coming off a 1-1 weekend as they topped Minot State by a score of 83-57 before falling to U-Mary on the road by a final score of 66-76.
 
Aimee Pelzer leads the way averaging 15.0 points, 5.2 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game. Pelzer's 5.2 assists per game ranks second in the NSIC. Tatum Sheley ranks second on the team in scoring at 12.6 points per game while ranking second on the team in rebounds at 4.4 per game.
 
Sierra Senske comes in third on the team in scoring at 11.4 points per game. She also leads the team in rebounding at 6.6 boards per game.
 
Bemidji State has out shot their opponents from distance going .351 from beyond the arc while their opponents are only shooting .303 from 3-point range.
 
Scouting Minnesota Crookston (6-12, 6-8 NSIC)
UMC SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears meet the Golden Eagles for the 30th time on the court as CSP holds a 22-7 all-time record against UMC.
 
LAST MEETING VS MINNESOTA CROOKSTON
CSP won the lone matchup against Minnesota Crookston last season by a score of 80-73 inside the Gangelhoff Center.
 
Perhaps most impressively, Kyrah Fredenburg matched the DII-era record at Concordia with 21 rebounds in the win. Her mark matched Amanda Behnke's program record set in the NCAA Region Tournament against Nebraska-Kearney back on March 10, 2007.
 
It was also a historic night for Anna Schmitt as she shattered her career high with a game-best 29 points on an efficient 8-11 from the floor and 11-12 from the free throw line in 36 minutes of action.
 
As a team, CSP put up their second highest shooting percentage of the conference season as they knocked down 45.9% (28-61) from the floor along with 42.9% (6-14) from deep. Minnesota Crookston, on the other hand, knocked down 41.2% (28-68) from the field and 41.9% (13-31) from three-point range.
 
Alison Hughes paced the Golden Eagles offensively as she finished the night with 25 points and four assists as she hit 6-10 from beyond the arc. Alexa Thielman also put up 19 points and seven boards while Katrina Nordick put up 10 points and seven rebounds.
 
ABOUT THE GOLDEN EAGLES
Minnesota Crookston currently holds a 6-12 overall record and a 6-8 record in NSIC play, which places them in fourth place in the North Division standings.
 
The Golden Eagles had a rough start to the season, losing their first eight games, but have been playing better as of late going 6-4 in their last 10 games.
 
UMC is coming off a pair of wins at U-Mary by a score of 80-71 and at Minot State by close score of 69-57.
 
Alison Hughes leads the team and ranks fourth in the NSIC at 16.8 points per game. She also ranks first in the conference in 3-point percentage at 42.2% and free-throw percentage at an outstanding 93.8%.
 
Isieoma Odor currently ranks second on the team in scoring at 12.9 points per game. Odor ranks first on the team in rebounding at 7.1 per game and total blocks with 29.
 
Micaela Noga ranks third on the team in scoring at 9.2 points per game. She adds 2.0 assists per game which ranks first on the team.
 
NSIC LEADERS
The Golden Bears have seen several different players shine in different areas this season with five different players registering in as top-10 performers in eight different statistical categories in the conference.
 
Kyrah Fredenburg ranks first in rebounds per game at 10.5 while her 8.5 defensive rebounds per game also ranks first.
 
Anna Schmitt places in three categories as she ranks third in scoring (17.4 PPG), seventh in field goal percentage (46.4%), and fourth in minutes played per game (34.6).
 
Caitlyn Russell's 1.8 blocks per game ranks seventh in the conference.
 
Mishayla Jones ranks fifth in steals per game (2.2) and sixth in assists per game (3.8).