ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (19-10), the three seed in the NSIC South, was upset in the first round of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament quarterfinals falling to Minnesota Crookston (8-19), the sixth seed in the NSIC North, by a score of 77-73 on Wednesday night inside the Gangelhoff Center.

With the score tied at 71 and less than a minute remaining, UMC milked the shot clock down to two seconds before Michaela Noga drained a deep 3-pointer at the top of the key to break the tie and give the Golden Eagles a 74-71 lead with 30.8 seconds left in the game.

CSP would attempt to tie the game but their final attempt would come up short and UMC would hit 3-4 free-throws down the stretch to take the 77-73 win.
 
The Golden Bears fall to 11-3 in first round NSIC Tournament games and 24-10 overall in tournament action. Concordia is now 23-8 against the Golden Eagles.

Caitlyn Russell led all scorers with 24 points and seven rebounds in her final game as a Golden Bear. Russell finished her career ranking fourth in career blocks with 124 and 809 career points.

Anna Schmitt added 21 points and a team-high eight rebounds, while Mishayla Jones finished with 12 points and three assists. Jones wraps up her career with 1,073 career-points which ranks 19th all-time.
 
Alison Hughes led the way for the Golden Eagles with 23 points while going 7-10 from beyond the arc. Michaela Noga followed close behind with 21 points while going 4-9 from 3-point distance.
 
Concordia came out of the gates strong jumping out to a quick 5-0 lead in the first minute of the game but Minnesota Crookston responded by tying the game up less than a minute later. For the next 2:37 CSP would pull back a head and hold a slight 12-10 lead heading into the first media timeout.

Coming out of the media timeout, a 3-pointer from Noga would give UMC their first lead of the game and they would not slow down from there as they led for the remainder of the quarter taking a 24-21 lead heading into the quarter number two. A 3-pointer by Hanna Vidlund at the first quarter buzzer pulled CSP within three.

The Golden Eagles were red hot from the floor in the first quarter going 7-10 (70%) from the field, including 4-6 (66.7%) from beyond the arc. Concordia finished the first quarter 7-17 (41.2%) from the field and 2-5 (40%) from 3-point distance.

Caitlyn Russell led CSP with seven points after one quarter of play and Noga led UMC with 13 points in the first.
 
UMC continued to hold a slight lead in the second quarter leading by no more than five heading into the media timeout. CSP pulled within one point on four occasions before the media timeout but could not get over the hump and regain the lead back. Following the media timeout a pair of baskets by Crookston would push their lead to eight heading into the half.

The Golden Eagles continued to shine from beyond the arc as they finished 4-7 (57.1%) from beyond the arc in the second quarter while the Golden Bears struggled from deep in the quarter going 1-6 (16.7%) from deep.

Anna Schmitt and Caitlyn Russell led CSP with nine first half points apiece. Michaela Noga led UMC with 16 first half points while Alison Hughes added 12 points and Emily Gruber finished with 11 first half points.
 
The tides would turn in the third quarter in favor of Concordia. After UMC notched the first basket of the second half to build their lead to eight, the Golden Bears would go on a 19-0 run over the next seven minutes and 18 seconds of the quarter. CSP would take a 59-49 lead heading into the final quarter of play.

Concordia finished 8-16 (50%) from the field in the quarter including 1-5 (20%) from beyond the arc and 6-6 (100%) from the free-throw line. After a hot shooting first two quarters, UMC struggled from the floor in the third going 1-10 (10%) from the field and 0-6 (0%) from beyond the arc.

In the final quarter of play CSP jumped out to a 12 point lead to begin the final quarter of play. UMC would slowly chip away at the Golden Bears lead and eventually took a 71-70 with 1:39 left to play after a 3-pointer by Alison Hughes. Concordia would tie the game at 71 after Jones split a pair of free-throws and then Noga would hit the deep triple to give the Golden Eagles a 74-71 lead.

Concordia would try a quick attempt to tie the game but the attempt fell short forcing CSP to foul. The Golden Bears would get a basket to pull within three after UMC hit a pair of free-throws, but Hughes would split a pair of free-throws to make it a four point game with seven seconds left sealing the win for Crookston.

The Golden Bears wrap up their season with a 19-10 overall record and finished third in the regular season standings in the South Division.