ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Golden Bear women's basketball team (6-14, 3-11 NSIC) pulled out a dramatic last-second win over Minnesota State Mankato (6-14, 4-10 NSIC) on Tuesday night when Anna Schmitt drove to the hoop and made an off-balance lay-up with a little over a second left in the game to break a 72-all tie. The Mavericks put up a three-pointer in the last second that didn't fall and the Bears came away with the win.
 
Schmitt led the Bears, as she ended with a game-high 23 points. The Waconia native also added five rebounds and two assists, while shooting very efficiently, connecting on 60.0% (6-10) from the floor and 90.0% (9-10) from the line. With today's effort the junior moves up another spot on the CSP all-time scoring list and now sits in 12^th with 1,367 career points.
 
Juniors Hanna Vidlund and Lindsay Dorr were the other two Golden Bears that ended in double figures. Vidlund, who played all 40 minutes, finished with 16 points, as she shot 50.0% (5-10) from the floor, while also tying her career-high in assists with seven. Dorr was also efficient, shooting 66.7% from the floor to end with 13 points, six of which she scored in the final quarter. The junior center also ended with a team-high seven rebounds.
 
Freshman Ayla Lemke added a career-high four blocks on the night and also collected four rebounds in her 17 minutes played.
 
The game was a close one all the way through, as there were seven ties and nine lead changes throughout the contest. After ten minutes of play the game was tied at 19, but after the second quarter, the Mavericks built up a four point lead as both teams headed into the halftime break. The third quarter was still back-and-forth, but the Mavericks held onto a lead until the Bears were able to work their way back and tie it with a little over two minutes left in the quarter. Minnesota State regained the lead, though, and headed into the final frame up by four.
 
The fourth quarter was tight to start, but in the middle of the quarter the Mavericks went on an 8-1 run and led by nine, which was the highest lead of the game, forcing CSP to call a timeout. The Bears quickly answered with nine straight points of their own, capped off by freshman Ellie Gess draining a three to tie it up at 67 points apiece with a little over three minutes to play. From there both teams traded baskets until Schmitt hit a three to tie the game again with 43 seconds left. Concordia then got a critical defensive stop, allowing them to run out most of the clock before taking their last shot. Schmitt made an acrobatic last-second lay-up to give the Bears a 74-72 victory.

So proud of my team and how they battled back tonight, it was definitely a team effort. The big thing we stressed in the locker room was battling tonight and it paid off!! #proud #battled #teammwork #cspbears

— Amanda Johnson (@AmandaLee_44) January 24, 2018

 
The Mavericks held a 48-33 rebounding edge in the game and capitalized on 21 points on second chances, but the Bears made up for these points on free-throws, as they made 21 points from the line throughout the game.
 
Minnesota State was led by senior forward Claire Ziegler, who finished with 19 points and a game-leading 12 rebounds. Teammates Mackenzie Dahl and Logan Anderson also ended in double figures, scoring 13 and 12 points, respectively. In addition, Dahl finished with 11 rebounds and Anderson tallied six assists.
 
The Bears continue their busy week with two more home games this weekend, as they take on Bemidji State on Friday, January 26^th at 6 p.m. and Minnesota Crookston the following day at 4 p.m. If you are not able to make it to the Gangelhoff Center this weekend, follow along with the live games online at cspbears.com/watch.