ST. PAUL, Minn. – After two weeks on the road, the Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (9-9, 6-6 NSIC) returns home for a couple games against Augustana (10-6, 6-6 NSIC) on January 24^th followed by Wayne State (13-5, 8-4) on January 25^th. Friday's game against the Vikings will be played at 5:30 p.m. and Saturday's game against the Wildcats will tip-off at 3:30 p.m.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend the Golden Bears fell on the road to St. Cloud State and the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Against SCSU, CSP opened the game with strong three-point shooting and was led by junior Riley Wheatcraft until she was injured and didn't return to the game.
 
Wheatcraft scored 24 points to lead the Golden Bears in the 82-72 loss, knocking down 9 out of 15 shot from the floor and 4 out of 7 from the beyond the arc. The guard was dominant all over the floor, also adding five assists, four rebounds, four steals, and a block against the Huskies.
 
The Golden Bears fell behind to St. Cloud's strong shooting in the first half and couldn't gain back a lead in the second half despite building a 23-point momentum in the third quarter.
 
Against the Bulldogs on Saturday, Concordia had a 9-5 lead early in the first quarter but it would be their final lead of the game after the Bulldogs pulled away with a 9-2 run to begin the second quarter. The Bears experienced a drought from the floor and had a tough time getting their shot to drop, going 20% from the field and 12.5% from the three, while UMD was 47% from the floor and 75% from the three once halftime arrived.
 
Sydney Schultz was a spark of energy for CSP as the sophomore dominated the boards with seven rebounds and led the squad with 14 points. While committing just one foul throughout the game, she grabbed four offensive boards, blocked a shot, and had one steal against the Bulldogs.
 
CSP won the turnover battle and forced 16 from UMD and stole the ball on 12 different occasions, but the Bulldogs sharp shooting throughout the game left the Bears with a 55-74 road loss.
 
AUGUSTANA SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears are 13-16 all-time against the Vikings. CSP is 10-6 when playing Augie at the Gangelhoff Center and has struggled against the Vikings in recent years. Concordia has lost six of their last nine games against Augustana but one two games against them during the 2018-19 season.
 
LAST TIME AGAINST AUGIE
The last time the Golden Bears faced the Vikings was in February of 2019 when CSP picked up their fourth straight win after claiming a 69-61 victory over Augustana.
 
Last year's seniors scored 58 of Concordia's 69 points, but the team's defense was especially strong throughout the game. The Bears limited Augustana to 30.2% shooting from the field and 10.7% from the beyond the arc. CSP also held a significant advantage on the glass and outrebounded the Vikings 47-39.
 
Sidney Wentland scored eight points against the Vikings and grabbed eight rebounds, four of which were on the offensive end, and had two assists. Meghan DuBois was on the court for 14 minutes as a freshman and drained a three pointer while contributing a single assist.
 
SCOUTING THE VIKINGS
Augustana's tight defense makes them the second-best team in the NSIC in steals, averaging 11.25 per game. The Vikings average 69.8 points per game (10^th NSIC) and hold their opponents to 60.8 points per game (3^rd NSIC). They have the best turnover margin in the conference at 7.50, only giving up 11.4 turnovers a game while forcing 18.9 from their opponents.
 
The squad is shooting 38.8% from the field (13^th NSIC) and 28.1% from the three-point line (16^th NSIC). They're strong on the boards, ranking fourth in the conference with 39.8 rebounds a game. Augie is on a four-game winning streak, but came into 2020 on a four game losing streak.
 
Abby Hora is the active leading scorer for the Vikings at 13.1 points per game (17^th NSIC) and leads the conference with 2.1 steals per game. The senior guard has started all 16 games for Augie this season and is shooting 41.8% from the floor and 33.8% from three. Her teammate, Vishe' Rabb leads the team with 14.2 points per game but has only played in six games this season due to injury.
 
Hana Beyer also ranks high in steals, averaging 2.0 per game (3^rd NSIC) and is the top rebounder for the Vikings at 5.8 per game. Lauren Sees is an efficient three-point shooter, shooting 47% from three and averaging 10.8 points per game.
 
WAYNE STATE SERIES HISTORY
Concordia is 21-22 all-time against the Wildcats. The Golden Bears have a 14-11 record playing Wayne State at home, though CSP is 4-4 in their last eight matchups hosted at the Gangelhoff Center. Wayne State does have a 7-4 edge in the last 11 games in the series.
 
LAST TIME AGAINST WSU
The Golden Bears last faced the Wildcats at home last season when a second half outburst led CSP to an 84-58 win over Wayne State. After the win, the Bears moved to 12-1 at the Gangelhoff for the 2018-19 season.
 
CSP's defense and three-point shooting were major components to their victory. The squad lashed out a season-high 17 steals and forced 24 Wildcat turnovers to score 27 points off WSC mistakes. In the second half, the Bears buried 11 of 14 threes to power through to the win.
 
Riley Wheatcraft had a notable game, posting nine points and two steals while Danielle Schaub added eight points on a perfect 3-3 shooting, while also collecting two steals.
 
As a team, Concordia held the Wildcats to 36.5% shooting after the first quarter, while shooting 55.3% themselves over the last three quarters.
 
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Wayne State is among the top-four in the conference in many departments. The Wildcats are the leaders in scoring, averaging 77.7 points per game. They are shooting 44.1% from the floor to rank third in the NSIC and 36.1% from three to rank fourth. In rebounds, they average 41.6 per game (3^rd NSIC) and put up 3.89 blocks per game (4^th NSIC).
 
Erin Norling contributes heavily to the teams scoring, averaging 19.6 points per game and ranks second in the conference. The junior also ranks fifth in rebounding, grabbing 8.1 each game. The second leading scorer is Halley Busse, averaging 13.9 points per game and finishing 2.1 threes per game (10^th NSIC). Busse.
 
Brittany Bongartz is WSU's strongest blocker, putting up 1.6 per game and ranking fourth in the conference. The junior center averages 12.1 points per game and is second on the team with 6.4 rebounds per game.
 
KEY STATS
Concordia is among the top teams in the conference for three-point shooting as the team currently ranks third with a 37.2% percentage and 7.8 made threes per game. Riley Wheatcraft and Danielle Schaub lead the squad from the arc, Wheatcraft averaging 2.2 per game (7^th NSIC) and Schaub averaging 2.1 per game (11^th NSIC).
 
CSP has had solid defense this season, putting up 4.61 blocks per game to lead the conference and collecting 8.33 steals each game to rank fourth. Distribution wise, the Bears have four players averaging above 10 points a game and average 14.56 assists a game (5^th NSIC).
 
Sidney Wentland is the leading scorer at 14.1 points per game (12^th NSIC) and is shooting 43.5% from the floor (9^th NSIC). Wentland also ranks fifth in blocked shots at 1.4 per game. Wheatcraft is the second leading scorer at 14.0 points per game and a strong rebounder with 5.0 per game.
 
Schaub is a dynamic player, averaging 11.2 points per game while picking up 3.7 rebounds and passing 3.2 assists each game to have one of the better assist-to-turnover ratios in the conference at 2.1 (4^th NSIC). Meghan DuBois leads the squad in assists with 3.6 each game (7^th NSIC) and contributes 10.3 points a game for the Golden Bears.