ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (5-13, 2-10 NSIC) defeated Southwest Minnesota State (4-12, 3-10 NSIC) 97-94 in a crazy overtime game on Friday night at the Gangelhoff Center. With eight seconds left, SMSU's Sadie Stelter hit a three to tie it up and it seemed that the game was headed for its second overtime, but junior Anna Schmitt marched down the floor and drained a last-second three from well beyond the arc to lift the Bears to victory.    
 
With the win the Bears have now won 32 of the last 34 meetings between the two teams, including winning the last twelve straight.
 
This was the first 90-point game for the Bears since January 28^th of last season, when the Bears defeated Minnesota Crookston 90-84. It was also the most points that the Golden Bears have scored since January 17^th, 2015, when they scored 103 points in a win over Bemidji State.   
 
Concordia shot an impressive 48.6% from the floor, including connecting on 47.6% of their three-point attempts, which are the best percentages that the Bears have posted since November of 2017. Every Golden Bear who got in the game scored in the victory and the team also posted a season-high 21 assists, with junior Hanna Vidlund dishing out a career-high seven.
 
Schmitt registered a career-high 37 points, which topped Jineen Williams' 36-point mark for most points in a game in Concordia's Division II-era, which was set back in 2010. With the career-high effort, the Waconia native moves up three more spots in the CSP all-time scoring list and is now 13^th with 1,327 career points. The junior guard put together an impressive shooting performance, hitting 12-21 shots from the floor (57.1%), including connecting on four out of five threes (80.0%). This was Schmitt's second 30+ game of the season, topping her 33 point effort against #10 Michigan Tech on November 25th, 2017.
 
Also ending in double figures for the Bears was junior center Lindsay Dorr and freshman guard Ellie Gess. Dorr finished with 19 points and nabbed a career-high 16 boards, ten of which were on the offensive end, to tie the tenth most in any CSP game. Gess ended with 16 points and, like Schmitt, shot 80.0% (4-5) from behind the arc.
 
The Mustangs were led by freshman Erin Baxter, who finished with a team-high 24 points. Close behind her was teammate Caleigh Rodning, who scored 22. Baxter and Rodning combined for 27 points from the free-throw line in the contest.
 
The Bears got off to a quick start, taking an 11-2 lead four minutes into the game, and continued to play solid throughout the half, leading by 11 at the break. CSP held onto their double digit lead for the majority of the third quarter, but then the Mustangs started to chip away in the fourth. Schmitt hit two free throws with 23 seconds left in the game to give the Bears a three point lead, but then Caleigh Rodning hit a three with 14 seconds left to tie it, and the Mustangs then played tight defense not allowing CSP to take another shot as time expired and the game headed into overtime.
 
This was the first overtime game that the Bears have played so far this season and Gess got CSP on the board early, scoring the first five points of the overtime period. The game was close all the way to the end though, as a free-throw from Haydn Becker put the Bears up three with 18 seconds left, but that lead was quickly erased by a three from Stelter with only eight seconds left in the game. Just when it looked like the game was headed to double overtime, Schmitt made a last-second three to win it for the Bears.
 
The Bears are back in action tomorrow night, where they look to make it two in a row, as they take on Sioux Falls. Game time at the Gangelhoff Center is at 4:00 p.m. If you are unable to make it in person, watch live at cspbears.com/watch.