MARSHALL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (11-17, 8-14 NSIC) came up with another NSIC victory with a 70-68 win over Southwest Minnesota State (5-20, 4-18 NSIC) in Marshall, Minnesota on Saturday evening. The Bears have now won four in a row, which is their longest win streak of the 2017-18 season.
 
The Bears have won 32 of the last 34 matchups against the Mustangs, including the last 13 straight. In their last meeting, the Bears won on a last-second three in overtime to break a 94-all tie. This time around, the Bears got up early and stayed ahead the rest of the game, including surviving a big SMSU fourth quarter comeback, for the win.
 
Seven Golden Bears scored in the victory, with juniors Lindsay Dorr, Anna Schmitt, and Hanna Vidlund ending in double figures. Dorr and Schmitt ended with 18 points apiece, and Vidlund was right behind them with 16, one off her career-high. Dorr also ended with a team-high 12 rebounds, for her eighth double-double of the year, and her third in the last four games. In addition, the 6-2 center finished with a career-high five blocks. Vidlund and Schmitt both shot efficiently (Vidlund 70.0% and Schmitt 50.0%) and each tallied five assists in the win. Senior Haydn Becker did a little bit of everything for the Bears, compiling six points, six rebounds, four assists, and a steal.
 
As a team, the Bears shot a little better from the field, 41.8% (28-67), compared to the Mustang's 39.7% (27-68), but SMSU shot better from three, hitting 42.9% (6-14) of their shots, compared to the Bears' 30.4% (7-23). Both teams ended with 42 rebounds, but CSP held a 19-7 edge in second chance points. The Bears also scored more points off of turnovers (19-11), but the SMSU bench was very active, scoring 32 points in the game, compared to the seven points scored by the Concordia bench.
 
The first quarter went back-and-forth and it was tied at 11 apiece at the first media timeout. After this, the Bears only allowed the Mustangs to score two more points in the quarter, while scoring 12 of their own, going on a 10-0 run to close out the quarter to lead 23-13 after the first ten minutes. The Bears had their best shooting percentage in this quarter, hitting 50.0% of their shots.
 
The Bears opened up the second quarter with the first five points, before allowing the Mustang's to go on a seven point run to make it 28-20. The Bears answered with a seven point run of their own and went on to lead 40-27 at the half. Schmitt led the Bears at the half with 14 points, shooting an impressive 75.0% from the field and Dorr was right behind her with 10 points and seven rebounds.
 
Vidlund got the Bears on the board to start the second half, scoring the first five points of the quarter. The Bears continued to build up their lead and were up by 24 when the quarter ended. Vidlund had a big quarter, scoring 12 points, without missing a single shot, as she went 5-5 from the field, including 2-2 from deep.
 
The Mustangs rallied for the fourth quarter, outscoring the Bears 28-6. SMSU scored the first 16 of the quarter, holding the Bears scoreless until Kayla Miller hit a jumper with 4:39 left in the quarter. A layup from Vidlund put CSP up by eight with 1:41 to go, but the Mustangs scored the next six making it a two point game with five seconds left. The Mustangs then had to foul. The Bears missed both free-throws, allowing SMSU another chance to tie it up, but their last-second jumper didn't fall, allowing the Bears to escape with a 70-68 win.
 
Five Mustangs ended in double figures in the contest. The team was led by freshman Abuk Akoi who finished with 12 points and a game-high 15 rebounds. Ending closely behind Akoi were freshmen Sadie Stelter, Meleah Reinhart, and Erin Baxter who all recorded 11 points. Rounding out the SMSU players in double digits was sophomore Caleigh Rodning, who finished with ten.
 
With the conclusion of the regular season, the Bears have secured the sixth seed in the South Division and will be taking on the three seed in the North Division, which is St. Cloud State. The Bears will play in St. Cloud on Wednesday, February 21^st. If the Bears win, they will move on to the quarterfinals which will take place on February 25^th at the Sanford Health Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.