ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (5-2, 3-2 NSIC) fell to the undefeated Sioux Falls Cougars (5-0, 5-0 NSIC) 83-65 on Friday evening.

The Cougars came out hot from the start, draining six three-pointers in just the first quarter. The Golden Bears were able to keep pace early with USF leading by two halfway through the first. Concordia's offense went cold from there as USF went on a 15-2 run to close out the opening quarter.

The second quarter was much tighter, but the Bears were unable to cut into the USF lead as each team put up 22 points to keep the Cougars' lead at 15 going into the half.

The Cougars defense came out strong in the third, holding CSP to just five points on 2-11 shooting from the floor. Sioux Falls added 16 points in the quarter to push the lead to 68-42 going into the fourth.

The Bears managed to outscore the Cougars 23-15 in the fourth, but it was too little, too late for CSP as Sioux Falls coasted to an 83-65 win.

Sioux Falls shot 10-24 from beyond the arc in the game with nine of them coming in the first half. USF outrebounded the Bears 45-34 in the game, but Concordia won the battle in the paint, outscoring the Cougars 34-20.

Freshman forward Lindsey Becher was the leading scorer for the Bears with 13 points, eight rebounds, and four blocks. Riley Wheatcraft also got into double figures as she put up 11 points and two rebounds. Sydney Zgutowicz and Sarah Kuma led all bench scorers with nine points each.

Anna Brecht finished on top of the Cougars score sheet with 20 points and nine rebounds. Hannah Jones finished with 13 points and Dallie Hoskinson recorded a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

The Golden Bears will look to get one back tomorrow as they will face Sioux Falls again at 2 p.m. at the Gangelhoff Center.