ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Golden Bears will look to clinch a home playoff game this weekend as they wrap up the regular season schedule at home against Sioux Falls on Friday, Feb. 17 and Southwest Minnesota State on Saturday, Feb. 18. Game times are set for 6 pm and 4 pm, respectively.
 
Concordia is currently in fifth place in the NSIC South standings and sits only one game behind Wayne State and Sioux Falls who are tied for third place. CSP needs to win both games this weekend to help better their chances of securing a home playoff game.

If Concordia splits the weekend series but beats Sioux Falls they still have a chance at home game pending tie breakers and other outcomes around the league.
 
The first round matchups are abundant as the Golden Bears could finish anywhere from second to sixth in the final regular season standings.
 
HOPE LODGE
Friday' game also represents the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Pink Out for Hope Lodge Minnesota. Donations are being collected during both games on Friday. The list of potential donations includes pantry items, cleaning supplies, bathroom toiletries, kitchen supplies, everyday necessities, and movies and books.

SENIOR NIGHT
Saturday represents Senior Night as Concordia-St. Paul seniors Mishayla Jones, Caitlyn Russell, Kelly McKenzie and Lauren Shifflett will be honored. The recognition will take place in between the women's and men's games on Saturday.

LAST TIME OUT
Concordia saw their 10 game winning streak end last Friday night as they fell to 59-69 on the road to #23 Winona State.
 
Despite the loss, Mishayla Jones became the 27th player in program history to surpass 1,000 career-points with her 16 point performance against the Warriors. Jones added six rebounds and five assists for Concordia.
 
Anna Schmitt also finished with 16 points to lead CSP while adding three rebounds and three assists. Kayla Miller finished with nine points on 3-8 shooting from beyond the arc.
 
Winona State saw four players reach double figures in the win. Jenny Tuttle led the way with 16 points and six assists, Kayla Timmerman added 15 points, six rebounds and three assists. Tara Roelofs finished with 12 points and four assists and Hannah McGlone rounded out the double-digit scorers with 12 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
 
The Warriors finished the game shooting 52.0% (26-50) from the floor and 44.4% (4-9) from distance. Concordia had a rough shooting night as they finished 34.4% (21-61) from the floor and 28.9% (11-38) from beyond the arc.
 
The Golden Bears would drop their second straight game falling to Upper Iowa by a score of 51-43 on Saturday evening.
 
Both teams struggled mightily shooting from the floor as CSP finished 30.6% (19-62) from the field. Concordia attempted 33 3-pointers while only making five (15.2%) and did not attempt a single free-throw the entire game.
 
Upper Iowa finished 32.1% (17-53) shooting from the field, 6-21 (28.6%) from distance, and went 11-13 (84.6%) from the free throw which ended up to be the difference in the game.
 
Concordia did hold a 28-22 points in the paint advantage and an 8-2 fast break points advantage. UIU produced 10 bench points compared to only two bench points by CSP.
 
Mishayla Jones led all scorers with a game high 22 points, eight rebounds and two assists. Anna Schmitt added 11 points and seven rebounds. Caitlyn Russell and Hanna Vidlund were the only other two Golden Bears to find scoring column as they finished with eight and two points, respectively.
 
The Peacocks were led by Carly Pagel with a team-high 15 points and eight rebounds. Blair Klostermann finished with 14 points, and Sam Ofstad pitched in with eight points and team-high three assists.

Scouting Sioux Falls (18-6, 14-6 NSIC) 
USF SERIES HISTORY
Concordia and Sioux Falls will be meeting for the 11th time in program history. CSP owns a 7-3 overall record against USF.
 
LAST MEETING VS SIOUX FALLS
The Golden Bears and the Cougars met earlier this season in Sioux Falls and it was CSP who came away with the 62-51 upset win. The win snapped Concordia's three game losing streak to USF.
 
CSP had a rough start to the game but picked up the intensity in the final three quarters. 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.
 
ABOUT THE COUGARS
Sioux Falls is coming off a pair of tough losses against Augustana in overtime by a score of 72-74 and Wayne State by a score of 57-67.
 
USF's defense has been outstanding this season as they rank first in the NSIC in scoring defense (56.9) and opponent field goal percentage (.359).
 
Sam Knecht currently leads the team in points (13.8), rebounds (10.4), blocks (53), and field goal percentage (.493). Knecht has recorded 10 double-doubles this season. Her10.4 rebounds per game currently ranks first in the NSIC.
 
Madi Robson and Kaely Hummel come in averaging just under 10 points per game at 9.9 and 8.9 points per game, respectively. Hummel leads the team in 3-pointer made (48) and ranks second in 3-point field goal percentage (.361). Robson currently leads the team in assists at 5.9 which ranks first in the NSIC.
 
Five players have recorded 29 or more steals for the Cougars and as team they have tallied 217 steals on the season.
 
Scouting Southwest Minnesota State (3-21, 3-17 NSIC)
SMSU SERIES HISTORY
CSP and SMSU will meet for the 52nd time on Saturday. Concordia is 35-16 all-time against the Mustangs having won the last 10 meetings. Concordia is 31-2 against SMSU since 2003.
 
LAST MEETING VS SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA STATE
CSP extended their winning streak to five games with a 67-63 win at Southwest Minnesota State back in late January.
 
Concordia led by double digits nearly the entire game but with five minutes left remaining in regulation and an 18 point lead it looked like CSP would have smooth sailing to finish the game. However, SMSU would 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.
 
ABOUT THE MUSTANGS
Southwest Minnesota State is coming off a pair of losses at home against Wayne State by a score of 60-71 and Augustana by a score of 57-68.
 
Despite only producing three wins on the year, SMSU has been shooting the ball very well from beyond the arc as they rank fifth in the NSIC in 3-point field goal percentage at 34.1 percent.
 
Freshman Caleigh Rodning currenlty leads in the team in scoring at 13.6 points per game and ranks third in rebounds at 7.4 per game. In the last six games, Rodning has recorded six straight double-doubles.
 
Lauren Hedlund ranks second on the team in scoring at 12.1 points per game and leads the team in rebounding at 8.9 per game and field goal percentage at 46.3 percent.
 
Taylor Holicky adds a third scoring threat at 9.2 points per game and ranks second on the team in rebounds at 8.0 per game. She also leads the team in blocks with 26.
 
NSIC LEADERS
The Golden Bears have seen several different players shine in different areas this season with four different players registering in as top-10 performers in nine different statistical categories in the conference.
 
Kyrah Fredenburg ranks second in rebounds per game at 10.3 while her 8.3 defensive rebounds per game also ranks first.
 
Anna Schmitt places in four categories as she ranks second in scoring (17.7PPG), seventh in field goal percentage (46.6%), 10th in free-throw percentage (.814) and fourth in minutes played per game (35.4).
 
Caitlyn Russell's 1.8 blocks per game ranks seventh in the conference.
 
Mishayla Jones ranks fifth in steals per game (2.0) and fourth in assists per game (4.4).
 
MILESTONE WATCH
Kyrah Fredenburg currently ranks fourth in program history in defensive rebound average (6.1), fifth in rebound average (8.0), and seventh in defensive rebounds (460).
 
Mishayla Jones' 354 career assists currently ranks eighth. She has played 2938 minutes which ranks ninth.
 
Caitlyn Russell currently ranks third in blocked shots average (1.4) and her 117 career blocks currently sits fifth on the list.
 
Anna Schmitt has played an average of 34.6 minutes in her first two seasons which ranks second all-time. Her scoring average of 16.4 points per game ranks sixth and her 3.4 assists ranks ninth.
 
Lauren Shifflett has made her mark on the three-point career records as she currently ranks in the top 10 in two different categories. She ranks seventh in 3-pointers made (137) and 3-pointers attempted (387).