FAYETTE, Iowa - The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (21-6, 17-5 NSIC) finished the regular season with an 88-65 victory over Upper Iowa (3-27, 0-22 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon at Dorman Gymnasium. With the win, the Golden Bears are NSIC South Division champions, winning the division for the first time since the 2012-13 season.
Anna Schmitt became Concordia-St. Paul's all-time leading scorer, as the senior guard scored passed Anika Whiting (1982 points, 2011-2015) with a pull-up jump shot late in the first half. Schmitt finished the game with 20 points on 7-9 shooting, and now is just 10 points away from becoming CSP's first-ever player to eclipse 2,000 points. Schmitt also added three assists, two rebounds, and two steals for the Golden Bears. She has now scored 20+ points in five of her last six games.
Lindsay Dorr led the way in the scoring category for CSP, as the senior center posted an extremely efficient 10-11 shooting to rack up 23 points. Sidney Wentland also had a productive night for the Golden Bears, scoring 16 points to go along with seven assists and four rebounds. Meghan DuBois contributed 10 points for CSP, her fourth double-digit scoring game in the last five contests.
Concordia shot 55% from the field a day after breaking the DII-era school record for shooting percentage in a game against WInona State (65.3%). The Golden Bears also shot 43.8% from three (7-16) and 83.3% from the free throw line (15-18). Concordia also held a significant advantage on the boards, outrebounding Upper Iowa 40-23.
The Golden Bears started out hot, hitting their first five shots of the game and leading 11-2 after just 2:46. Concordia would lead for the entire game, always answering back after an Upper Iowa run. The Peacocks were able to cut the the lead to as little as five points in the first quarter, but the Golden Bears finished the frame on a 15-5 run to take a 28-13 lead into the second quarter.
CSP continued their run in the second quarter, building their lead to as many as 21 (37-16) points in the first half. Upper Iowa would answer back with a mini 6-0 run of their own, but the Golden Bears were able maintain their lead and go into the break with a 46-31 edge.
The third quarter was more of the same, as Upper Iowa was unable to trim CSP's lead to less than 12 points. The Golden Bears shot 73.3% in the third to go into the final quarter with a 71-52 lead. Concordia would continue to maintain their lead in fourth frame, as their bench contributed 20 points on the game.
The Golden Bears moved to 25-4 against Upper Iowa in the all-time series between the two teams. Concordia is now 12-2 when playing in Fayette.
CSP will host Bemidji State in the first round of the NSIC / Sanford Health Tournament on Wednesday, February 27 at 6 p.m. If CSP is victorious in that contest, they will move onto the Sanford Pentagon, where the remainder of the tournament will be held on March 2-5.
