ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia Golden Bears women's basketball team (19-9, 15-7 NSIC) wrapped up the regular season with a 71-68 win over Southwest Minnesota State (3-23, 3-19 NSIC) Saturday evening inside the Gangelhoff Center.

With the win against SMSU, Concordia clinches the #3 seed in the South Division and will host the #6 seed Minnesota Crookston next Wednesday at 7 pm inside the Gangelhoff Center.

The last time CSP and SMSU met this season the Golden Bears had a commanding lead nearly the entire game and then the Mustangs made a big comeback to have to make it a one possession game in the final seconds.

This time, Southwest Minnesota State made another big come back and pulled within one after a 3-pointer by Jamie Spicer with 37.7 seconds left in the game. CSP would then milk the shot clock down to the final seconds and it would be Mishayla Jones who would hit a pull-up 18 footer to give the Golden Bears a 71-68 lead. The Mustangs would have a final chance to tie the game but the final attempt by Spicer came up short.

Both Concordia and Southwest Minnesota State shot the ball well from the field as they finished 46.6% (27-58) and 42.6% (23-54) from the floor, respectively. It was a similar story for both teams distance as CSP went 27.8% (5-18) from beyond the arc and SMSU finished 31.8% (7-22) from 3-point land.

Anna Schmitt and Caitlyn Russell led the way for CSP as they finished with 21 and 20 points, respectively. Russell also added 10 rebounds for her third 20 point-10 rebound performance of the season. Mishayla Jones rounded out the double-digit scoring with 15 points while adding five rebounds and five assists.

Caleigh Rodning led SMSU and all scorers with 22 points and 11 rebounds for her eighth consecutive double-double. Jamie Spicer added 16 points for the Mustangs going 4-7 from 3-point distance.

CSP began the game with an 8-0 run to jump out to the early lead and it looked like they were going to blow the game wide open. However, that would not be the case as the Mustangs responded with a 16-7 scoring advantage to take a 16-15 lead after one quarter.

SMSU would close out the quarter with a 7-0 run of their own and held Concordia scoreless for the final 4:17 of the first quarter.

Caitlyn Russell tallied seven first quarter points for CSP and Jamie Spicer finished with nine first quarter points for the SMSU.

The Mustangs continued their run to begin the second quarter as Caleigh Rodning would get a layup and a 3-pointer to give SMSU a 21-15 lead just over a minute into the quarter.

Concordia would not panic though as they responded with a 9-0 run over the next five minutes to regain the lead. The Golden Bears would hold SMSU scoreless for nearly a six minute span during their run.

Southwest Minnesota State would stop the bleeding to pull within one but yet again the Golden Bears would put together a 14-2 run to close out the half and thanks to 3-pointer by Hanna Vidlund with 34 seconds remaining and then a buzzer beating 3-pointer by Anna Schmitt as the buzzer sounded giving CSP a 38-25 halftime lead.

Concordia would end up outscoring the Mustangs 23-9 in the second quarter.

Anna Schmitt led all scorers with 13 first half points, Caitlyn Russell added nine and Hanna Vidlund finished with seven first half points off the bench for Concordia. Jamie Spicer led SMSU with nine first half points all off of 3-pointers and Caleigh Rodning added seven first half points.

Coming out of the intermission, the Mustangs would cut the CSP lead to single digits but CSP would respond with a small run of their own building their to as much as 14 midway through the quarter. SMSU would close out the quarter with a 7-2 run to pull within eight heading into the final quarter of play.

In the final quarter of play the Golden Bears looked like they were smooth sailing the rest of the game as they built their lead up to 14 after a 3-pointer by Schmitt with 5:07 left in the game. However over the next four and a half minutes the Mustangs would go on a 13-0 run to pull within one with 37 seconds left in the game.

Jones would then hit a deep jumper to give CSP a three point lead and the final attempt to tie the game by SMSU came up short giving the Golden Bears a 71-68 lead to wrap up their regular season schedule.

Concordia is now 36-16 all-time against Southwest Minnesota State.

The Golden Bears will be back in action next Wednesday, Feb. 22 for the first of the NSIC tournament.