ABERDEEN, S.D. – The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (10-11, 7-8 NSIC) is back on a winning track after defeating Northern State (11-9, 7-7 NSIC) in South Dakota on Friday night. After a low scoring game, the Golden Bears outscored the Wolves 62-54 to earn their first win in two weeks.
 
The Bears had the lead from the moment Sydney Schultz pushed her way through the Northern State defense to make the first layup of the game. From there, CSP dominated the floor to shoot 46.9% (23-49) while holding the Wolves to 34.6% (18-52).
 
After Schultz's initial game starter, the sophomore went on to lead the team in scoring with 12 points and seven rebounds. The forward was a key post player for Concordia the entire night, going 62.5% (5-8) in the paint and went 2-2 from the free-throw line.
 
CSP had a 13-8 lead after the first quarter as shots were coming form everywhere on the court as well as everywhere on the roster. Six players contributed to the scoreboard in the first ten minutes as the squad went 6-12 from the floor and 1-2 from the stripe.
 
At the half, Northern State caught a break when it came to three-point shooting by the Bears. CSP was just 1-8 from the arc while NSU was 3-for-11. The Golden Bears still had the advantage though as the team made up for missed three's with made two-pointers, going 11-17 from within the arc and outscoring the Wolves 18-12 in the second quarter.
 
The third quarter began with a change of pace between the two teams. NSU went on an 10-4 run after CSP came out with a quick bucket down low from Schultz followed by a fast break lay up from Sidney Wentland. Coach Johnson recollected her team with a time out and Cassidy Byrd responded with a swish from the three to break the scoring drought. After a couple more possessions of opportunities but no dropped shots, Byrd put up another good three before the end of the quarter. Despite being outscored 19-16, the Bears had the 47-39 lead going into the final ten minutes of the game.
 
Northern State got to the line and made 7-of-8 free throws but couldn't drop them from the floor and shot 28.5% (4-14) in the fourth quarter. CSP finished 5-of-10 from the floor and a three to end the game without giving up the lead.
 
At the end of the night, the Golden Bears had eight players who contributed points to the score board and six who scored eight points or more. Sophomore Meghan DuBois shot 50% (2-4) from beyond the arc and 42.8% (3-7) from the floor to score 11 points along with three rebounds, an assist, and a steal. Wentland weaved through NSU defense for a handful of smooth layups to go 4-7 (57.2%) from the floor. The junior scored nine points and dished out four of the squads nine assists in the win.
 
Schaub, Byrd, and freshman Jadyn Hanson each ended the night with eight points. Byrd collected six rebounds as did redshirt-freshman Sydney Zgutowicz.
 
As a team, the Bears shot 46.9% (23-49) from the field and struggled from the three, finishing 27.8% (5-18) of their attempts. They committed 17 turnovers but were able to score 13 points off of the Wolves 13 turnovers.
 
NSU was led by sophomore Lexi Wadsworth who scored 15 points for the Wolves along with nine rebounds, six of which were on the offensive end. Wadsworth's aggressiveness towards o-boards gave her team 12 second chance points. The second leading scorer for Northern State was Brianna Kusler with 14 points and nine rebounds, along with two assists and two steals.
 
The Wolves were held to 34.6% (18-52) shooting from the floor and 15% (3-20) from three. Their only three-pointers occurred in the first half of the game and NSU went 0-9 in the second half.
 
The Bears will look to build upon their winning streak tomorrow afternoon as they travel to Minnesota State University-Moorhead. CSP will tip-off at 3:30 p.m. in the Nemzek Fieldhouse on February 1^st.