ST. PAUL, Minn. – After four games on the road, the Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (4-13, 1-10 NSIC) is returning to the Gangelhoff Center to close out January with a five game homestand. The Golden Bears will first take on Southwest Minnesota State (4-11, 3-9 NSIC) on Friday, January 19^th at 6 p.m. and then face Sioux Falls (11-5, 8-4 NSIC) on January 20^th at 4 p.m.
 
GOLDEN BEAR BASH
The tradition continues this Saturday, Jan. 20 as Concordia University hosts the 2018 Golden Bear Bash. Spend time with former classmates, watch the Golden Bears take on the Sioux Falls Cougars and score some free food and drinks. Kids will enjoy the Comet Kid Zone with a movie and games, so bring the whole family! Admission and game tickets are free for all alumni and their families. Please visit the 2018 Golden Bear Bash website to register in advance!
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Bears traveled to North Dakota for their last two conference games and dropped both, falling to U-Mary on Friday night and Minot State on Saturday afternoon.
 
Against U-Mary, the Bears shot a solid 44.8% from the field, but the Marauders capitalized on 18 points from the free-throw line that turned out to be crucial in the game. CSP trailed by five at the half and kept within striking distance in the third quarter. Anna Schmitt started a comeback in the fourth, scoring 14 points in the quarter and getting the game within three with 49 seconds left to play. The Marauders answered with six straight free-throws to put the game out of reach, eventually winning by eight. Schmitt finished with 28 points in the contest, shooting an incredibly efficient 12-19 from the floor (63.2%). Sophomore Brianna Miller was the other Golden Bear to end in double figures, as she shot 50.0% (5-10) from the floor to end with 11 points. Freshman Ayla Lemke led all rebounders with ten.
 
The following day, the Bears ran into a hot shooting Minot State team, who shot 49.2% (29-59) from the field, including hitting 58.8% (10-17) of shots from three to win 71-54. Concordia fell behind early in the first quarter and the Beavers were able to hold onto the lead for the rest of the game. Early in the third quarter the Bears were down nine, but then Minot went on a 9-1 to lead by 17. The Beavers held on to this comfortable lead until the final four minutes when the Bears scored the last ten points of the game, but were still down by 17 as time expired.
 
Schmitt once again lead the Bears offensively, as she scored a team-high 15 points, while also compiling five rebounds and three assists. Junior Lindsay Dorr and freshman Ayla Lemke each had solid games, both ending with 11 points. Dorr also tallied seven rebounds and a career-high four steals. Lemke's 11 point effort was a career-high mark for the 6-2 forward, as she hit three out of her four three-point attempts.  
 
SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA STATE SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears own an impressive 36-16 all-time record against the Mustangs and are 28-8 against them in conference contests. In their last 33 meetings, the Bears have won 31 times, only losing once in 2005 and once in 2011, and have won the last 11 straight. CSP also posts a 19-3 all-time record against SMSU when playing them at home, as they do this weekend. The last time that the Bears have fallen to Southwest Minnesota State at home was back in January of 2002.
 
LAST MEETING VS SMSU
Last season featured two close games against the Mustangs, but the Bears came out on top in both, winning 67-63 in their January matchup and 71-68 in February. In each of the games the Bears led all the way through the second half, despite SMSU comeback attempts in each of the fourth quarters.
 
 In the February game the Bears were outscored in every quarter except the second, but had such a dominant second frame, outscoring their opponents 21-9, that they were still able to come out victorious. The Bears led by 14 halfway through the third quarter, but then the Mustangs went on a 7-0 point run to get the game within seven. From there it went back-and-forth until SMSU rallied again, making it a one-point game with 40 seconds left. The Bears did not let up though, not allowing another basket for the rest of the game, going on to win by three.
 
Anna Schmitt led the Bears offensively in both games, scoring a game-high 22 points in January and then followed that up with 21 points in February. Caitlyn Russell was a strong presence on the boards, combining for 19 rebounds between the two contests.


ABOUT THE MUSTANGS
SMSU has a 4-11 overall record so far this year and is 3-9 in the conference, with two wins over Upper Iowa and most recently, a win against Bemidji State. In the victory over Bemidji, sophomore Caleigh Rodning scored 26 points while going 8-15 from the field and 10-11 from the free-throw line. The team shot well in the win, connecting on 52.5% (32-61) from the field, 45.5% (5-11) from beyond the arc, and 83.3% (15-18) from the line.
 
As a team, SMSU is averaging 63.0 points per game which is seven points fewer than their opponents. The team is averaging lower shooting percentages than their opponents, shooting 36.7% from the field and 28.3% from three, but does post better free-throw percentages than their competition. The Mustangs average 38.8 rebounds per game, and average three more turnovers per game than their opponents, as well as two less steals.
 
The Mustangs return seven players and add seven freshman to complete their roster. Rodning is their only player averaging in double digits in scoring, with 12.6 points per game. The sophomore forward also leads her team in rebounding, averaging 8.2 boards a game. Freshman Erin Baxter is their next leading scorer, registering 9.9 points per game and freshman Sadie Stelter is their leader in assists, with 42 on the year so far.
 
SIOUX FALLS SERIES HISTORY
The Bears started playing Sioux Falls in 2012 and since then has posted an 8-3 record against the Cougars. CSP won the first six matchups against USF, not losing from 2012 to 2015, winning by double digits in all but one of those victories. Concordia has also won the last two contests against Sioux Falls, including most recently, a 75-68 win at the Gangelhoff Center in February of last year.
 
LAST MEETING VS USF
CSP was victorious in both games against the Cougars last season, winning 62-51 in January and 75-68 in February. The Bears got down early in their January contest to USF, trailing by ten after the first quarter. From there, though, the Bears took over, outscoring their opponents in the last three quarters of the game, including holding the Cougars to scoring only nine points in the second and fourth quarter. Helping in the victory was the Bears' dominate presence on the glass, as they held a 40-23 rebounding edge, led by Kyrah Fredenburg's 12 rebound effort.
 
In their February matchup, the Bears took the lead in the middle of the first quarter and never gave it up after that, leading by 23 at the half. CSP held onto this double digit lead until there was 35 seconds left in the game, when the Cougars made a late run, but the Bears held on to win by seven.
 
 Schmitt led all scorers in the game, scoring 29 points while shooting 69.2% (9-13) from the field, including hitting four of six threes (66.7%) and knocking down seven out of eight free-throws (87.5%). Mishayla Jones and Caitlyn Russell also ended in double digits with 19 and 16 points, respectively. Kyrah Fredenburg was aggressive on the glass, recording 18 rebounds, which is tied for the fourth most in any game in CSP history.   
 
ABOUT THE COUGARS
Sioux Falls is 11-5 on the year and 8-4 in the NSIC and are coming off a 74-57 win over Minnesota Crookston. The Cougars shot 45.5% from the floor and hit 11 threes to win, as sophomores Kaely Hummel and Mariah Szymanski hit four apiece. Hummel scored 29 points in the victory, while also securing eight rebounds and dishing out three assists.
 
USF is averaging 66.1 points per game, which is 7.6 points more than their opponents while shooting 38.7% from the field and 32.1% from three. The team averages 38.1 boards per game and generally wins the turnover battle over their opponents.
 
The Cougars have eight players returning to their 2017-18 roster and are a very young squad as 16 out of 18 players are freshman or sophomores. USF has three players averaging double digit points with Hummel as their leading scorer, averaging 16.9 points per game. Freshman Jasmine Harris and Szymanski are the other two who average 10+ points a game, averaging 13.0 and 10.1 points, respectively. Junior Jacey Huinker is their leading rebounder, with 10.5 boards per game, which is second highest in the conference.  
 
KEY STATS
-Anna Schmitt put together her eighth 20+ performance of the year, scoring 28 points against U-Mary, including scoring 14 points in the final quarter of the game. The Waconia native shot an incredibly efficient 63.1% (12-19) from the field, including hitting 50.0% (3-6) of her shots from three.
-With her 43 points over the weekend, Schmitt moved up two more spots in the CSP all-time scoring list and is now 16^th with 1,290 points.
-Schmitt ranks first in the conference in scoring with 20.0 points per game, fourth in field goal percentage (.467), second in free-throw percentage (.909), fourth in threes per game (2.1), and ninth in minutes played (31.3).
-Brianna Miller scored 11 points against U-Mary to make it five games in a row of reaching double digits for the Bears.
-Ayla Lemke scored a career-high 11 points against Minot State, draining three out of four of her three-point attempts.
-Lindsay Dorr ranks 15^th in the NSIC and leads the Bears in rebounding with 6.4 boards per game.