SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (4-3, 0-2 NSIC) dropped a close matchup with Sioux Falls (6-1, 2-0 NSIC) 83-74 on Friday night at the Stewart Center in South Dakota. The game featured ten ties and nine lead changes, with the Golden Bears tying the game up at 70 with 2:26 left in the game, but the Cougars finished the game strong to secure their second conference win.
 
CSP is now 9-5 in their all-time series history against USF. Coming into tonight's matchup the Bears had won three of their last four matchups against the Cougars, including their last two games in Sioux Falls.
 
The Golden Bears had three players end in double figures on the night, led by senior guard Anna Schmitt, who ended with 17 points. With those points, the Waconia native moves up another spot on the all-time career points leaderboard, sitting in second with 1,654 career points. Schmitt passed Jennifer Pozzani (2001-05) and now only trails Anika Whiting (2011-15) who has 1,982 career points. Schmitt shot 47% (8-17) on the night, and added three rebounds, three assists, and a steal.
 
Lindsay Dorr was right behind Schmitt, picking up 16 points of her own, as well as leading in rebounds with 13. This was Dorr's second double-double of the season, as well as her seventh straight game scoring 14+ points. The senior center hit 54% (7-13) of her shots and also chipped in with two assists and two blocks.
 
Sophomore Sidney Wentland was the final Golden Bear in double figures, scoring 15. This was her third game this season ending with double-digit points. Wentland shot 42% (5-12) throughout the game and also tallied five rebounds, an assist, and a steal.
 
The Cougars held a slight edge in shooting (49% to 47%), but really capitalized on points off turnovers, holding a 17-4 advantage in that category. The Bears, however, scored 18 second chance points, to the Cougars' four.
 
The two teams traded points for much of the first quarter, with Sioux Falls using two free throws in the final seconds of the quarter to take a 21-20 lead after the first frame. The Bears were an impressive 5-10 from the field in the first ten minutes, including hitting 3-5 from beyond the arc.
 
USF opened the second quarter with a 9-2 run to lead by eight with seven minutes to play in the half. Concordia answered with back-to-back and-1's from Wentland and Schmitt to get the score back within two. Sioux Falls then scored the next six points to once again give themselves a bigger lead. The Bears battled for the rest of the half and scored the last four points to tie it up at 38 all heading into the break.
 
The teams traded baskets in the beginning of the second half, but then the Cougars scored eight in a row to give themselves an eight-point lead with under five minutes to play in the third quarter. The Golden Bears responded as Dorr made a layup and senior Hanna Vidlund hit a three to get the game back within three. Later in the quarter, the Cougars made a last-second layup to enter the final ten minutes with a four-point lead.
 
Sioux Falls scored the first basket of the fourth quarter, giving them a six-point lead, which would be their largest lead of the quarter until the final minute of play. A layup from sophomore Ellie Gess tied the game at 70 apiece with 2:26 left to play. From there, the Cougars went on a 13-4 scoring run, capitalizing on five points from the free-throw line, as the Bears were forced to foul in the final 40 seconds of the contest.  
 
Junior guard Kaely Hummel led Sioux Falls, scoring a season-high 25 points. Teammate Gloria Mulumba added 17 points and Mariah Szymanski capped off their double-digit scorers with 14.
 
The Golden Bears are back in action tomorrow, December 8^th, when they take on Southwest Minnesota State at 4 p.m. to complete their road trip. The team opens their conference home season next weekend, as they host Upper Iowa on Friday and Winona State on Saturday.