MANKATO, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (3-7, 1-4 NSIC) dropped their NSIC matchup against the Minnesota State Mavericks (3-7, 2-3 NSIC) 70-45 on Friday night in Mankato.
 
The Bears are now an even 18-18 in their all-time series history with the Mavericks and continue to alternate between victory and defeat against Minnesota State, as these two teams have taken turns winning in their last six matchups. In last year's game, three different CSP players ended in double digits, helping their team lead by double digits for the majority of the second half, going on to win 72-61.
 
This year, junior guard Kayla Miller led all CSP scorers with 11 points and freshman Ellie Gess was right behind her with ten. Junior Lexi Lee also chipped in with a career-high nine points, while contributing two rebounds, two assists, and a steal. Freshman Ayla Lemke and sophomore Brianna Miller led the rebounding efforts, securing five boards apiece.
 
As a team, the Bears were held to a 36.5% shooting percentage, while the Mavericks shot 41.3%. Minnesota State held a 48-26 rebounding advantage, capitalizing on 15 second chance points. The Mavericks also took advantage of 18 Concordia turnovers, scoring 23 points off of these opportunities. Another major factor in the matchup was that Minnesota State went to the line 18 times, connecting on 12 of those attempts, whereas CSP only went to the line five times, scoring only three free points.
 
CSP got into a hole early, allowing the Mavericks to score the first seven points of the game. The teams then traded off baskets for the next part of the quarter, until a three-pointer from Lemke got the game within four with three minutes to go in the first quarter. Minnesota State answered though and scored the next seven points, eventually leading by 11 after the first ten minutes.
 
The Mavericks upped their lead to 14 with 3:22 left to go in the first half, but the Bears finished the half strong, scoring nine of the last 14 points to cut that lead down to ten heading into the halftime break. As a team, the Mavericks shot a little better from the field than the Bears, 52.0% compared to 42.9%, but free-throws really accounted for the scoring difference in the first half, as Minnesota State capitalized on ten free points, while the Bears only scored twice from the line.
 
In the beginning of the third quarter, the Bears kept the game within striking distance, down by ten for the majority of the first part of the quarter. But Minnesota State started building up a lead at the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter, going up by a game-high 28 with five minutes left in the game, going on to defeat the Bears 70-45.
 
The Bears will play again on Monday, December 18^th for their last non-conference game of the season, facing Palm Beach Atlantic at 4 p.m. at the Gangelhoff Center. If you are unable to make it in person, tune in online at cspbears.com/watch.