Women's Basketball | 2.20.17

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The NSIC South third-seeded Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (19-9) will open up play in the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament against NSIC North sixth-seeded Minnesota Crookston (7-19) on Wednesday night.

Ticket prices will be $10 for adults, $2 for students, kids 4 and under will be admitted free.

LAST TIME OUT
Over the weekend, Concordia closed out the regular season with a sweep against Sioux Falls and Southwest Minnesota State.

On Friday, Concordia shot the ball fairly well against USF as they finished 47.1% (24-51) from the field, 40.0% (8-20) from beyond the arc and 73.1% from the free-throw line.

Anna Schmitt led the way for the Golden Bears with a game-high 29 points on 9-13 shooting and 4-6 from distance. Mishayla Jones added 19 points, four rebounds and four assists and Caitlyn Russell rounded out the double-digit scorers with 16 points and four blocks. Kyrah Fredenburg pulled in a game-high 18 rebounds in 39 minutes of play.

On Saturday, the Golden Bears held off a late comeback attempt against the Mustangs to wrap up the regular season with a win.

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.
 
Anna Schmitt had a great weekend as she averaged 25.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game in the two wins.
 
UMC SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears meet the Golden Eagles for the 31st time on the court as CSP holds a 23-7 all-time record against UMC.

LAST MEETING VS MINNESOTA CROOKSTON
Back on January 28th, Concordia and Minnesota Crookston combined for 174 points but favored CSP as they came away with a 90-84 win inside the Lysaker Gymnasium.

Sophomore Anna Schmitt scored a career-high and team-season high 32 points as she connected on 12-of-18 from the field and 5-of-9 from deep while nabbing five steals and producing a 4-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio with five rebounds and a block.
 
Caitlyn Russell was a force inside as she had 23 points, six rebounds and a blocked shot.
 
Concordia was able to score 90 points tonight despite sub-50 percent shooting (34-72, 47.2%) as the team took care of the ball with just eight turnovers while forcing 16.

While doubling up UMC in turnovers, CSP used that to double up the Golden Eagles in points off turnovers as well, to a 24-12 margin, which combined with the 16-11 edge in second chance scoring proved to be major road advantages.

UMC was led by Alison Hughes' 30 points, shooting 7-of-12 from the field, 6-of-7 from three and 10-of-10 at the line.

NSIC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Concordia has a 24-9 record in 13 previous trips to the tournament. CSP has taken home the title four times ('05, '07, '08, '14) and has reached the tournament final seven times. Concordia holds a 11-2 record in first round games in the tournament.

LASY YEAR IN THE TOURNAMENT
Last season, CSP defeated St. Cloud State on the road by a score of 83-72 in their first round game in the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament.

Anna Schmitt helped lead a red-hot offensive attack with a game-high 26 points as she hit 9-13 from the floor with five assists and four rebounds in the win.
 
The team as a whole connected on an efficient 56.6% (30-53) from the floor, including 78.6% (11-14) in the fourth quarter. CSP also hit 7-20 (35.0%) from deep and 76.2% (16-21) from the free throw line.
 
The Huskies got off to a slow start from the field as they hit just 31.3% (5-16) in the first quarter before finishing the game at 42.6% (26-61).
 
In addition to the shooting edge, CSP also out-rebounded SCSU 32-27 and out-scored them by a wide margin at 34-18 in the paint.
 
Following the opening round win, the Golden Bears would go on to face the top seeded Winona State Warriors at the Pentagon in Sioux Falls where CSP's season would come to an end with a close 64-68 loss.
 
The trio of Anna Schmitt, Mishayla Jones and Caitlyn Russell carried the bulk of the scoring load for Concordia as they combined for 52 of CSP's 68 points on the night.
 
Schmitt hit surpassed 20 points for the 11^th time on the season as she finished with a game-high 21 points on 9-15 from the floor to go along with six rebounds, three assists and two steals.
 
Jones followed close behind with 16 points and five boards while Russell chipped in 15 points and eight rebounds.
 
Concordia hit 42.9% (27-63) on the night while Winona State connected of 44.1% (26-59). The fourth quarter proved to be the difference as CSP hit 29.4% in the final quarter while WSU hit 60.0% in that span.
 
Alexis Foley led the Warriors with 18 points while Jenny Weiland added 15 points off the bench for Winona State.
 
CSP would finish their season with a 14-16 overall record.