ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (6-2, 4-2 NSIC) and Southwest Minnesota State (5-1, 3-1 NSIC) have announced that this weekend's women's basketball games have been moved back a day to Saturday and Sunday. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.

ATTENDANCE POLICY
Please note that SMSU is currently not allowing fans at any home winter sports events.

WATCH ONLINE - NSIC NETWORK
Powered by the NSIC Network, all Northern Sun home and away basketball games will be broadcast online, free of charge. Visit www.nsicnetwork.com/cspbears to watch the Golden Bears. Away games will feature production and commentary by the host institution, while home games are broadcast by Keemotion technology with the play-by-play call of Dan Flanagan, voice of the Golden Bears for over a decade. Flanagan is a St. Paul native who professionally trained in broadcasting at Fordham University in New York where he was the voice of the basketball and football teams, among other sports. NSIC Network Announcement & FAQ

WATCH ON YOUR TV
The NSIC Network, supported by BlueFrame Technology, is available to download on your favorite OTT providers like Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV. Simply search for "NSIC" or "NSIC Network" and download the app for a full listing of Northern Sun action on your TV.  NSIC Network Announcement & FAQ

WATCH ON THE GO
Download the NSIC Network app in the Google Play Store or the App Store on your Apple device to watch on your smartphone, a new feature from BlueFrame Technology.  NSIC Network Announcement & FAQ

FOLLOW ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Not able to watch or keep an eye on live stats? Check in on social media by following our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds. Each platform will have different levels of engagement. Twitter will offer scoring updates, Instagram will feature live look-ins and engaging content and Facebook is a great place to get links to previews, recaps and more. Simply search for CSP Bears on any of the platforms, and remember to #BeGolden!
 
LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend, the Golden Bears took on the Sioux Falls Cougars in a pair of conference games at the Gangelhoff Center. The Golden Bears split the series, losing the first game 83-65 and winning the second game 64-50.

In the first game, the Cougars came out hot, 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.
 
 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.
 
In a complete reversal from their performance on Friday, the Golden Bears hit on six threes in the first half while holding the Cougars to just 5-28 (17.9%) shooting from the floor on Saturday. After putting up 52 in the first half on Friday, the Cougars were held to just 14 first-half points on Saturday as the Golden Bears carried a 26-14 lead into the half.
 
The Golden Bears tied their season-high of 12 three-pointers in the game, shooting 12-21 from downtown. As a team, CSP shot 43.3% (26-60) from the floor. The Concordia defense came up big in the victory, holding the Cougars to just 50 points on 18-57 from the floor, their lowest scoring total in two years. The team's 6-2 start to the season is their best through eight games since 2009-10 when they started 8-0.
 
Wheatcraft was the Bears leading scorer as she notched 17 points, five rebounds, and three assists. Schaub finished with 11 points in the game on 3-6 from beyond the arc. Junior guard Meghan DuBois contributed nine points while freshman forward Lindsey Becher added eight points.
 
SMSU SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears have a 42-16 all-time record against the Mustangs. The Bears' record in road games against SMSU is 16-5. CSP has dominated the series in recent years as they have won 17 in a row and 19 of the last 20 against the Mustangs. Concordia won both matchups with SMSU last season by an average of 10 points.
 
LAST TIME AGAINST SMSU
When the teams last met on Jan. 10 last year at the R/A Facility in Marshall, Minn., the Golden Bears came away with a 68-51 victory.
 
The Golden Bears started the game with sharp shooting from the three-point line as Riley Wheatcraft put the first points on the scoreboard with a banked shot from the arc. The junior went on to finish another to contribute to 80% (4-5) shooting from the three-point line in the first quarter for the Golden Bears.
 
Both teams struggled a bit from the field, the Bears going 6-15 and the Mustangs going 3-15, but CSP had the 17-7 lead after the first ten minutes of the game. The Golden Bears did a phenomenal job at sharing the ball, as all shots were assisted.
Southwest Minnesota State came out in the second quarter with a vengeance on defense. The Mustangs forced five turnovers from the Bears off steals and outscored CSP 21-15. With two minutes left to go before the half ended, SMSU returned from a ten-point deficit to tie up the game at 25-25.
 
After a series of wild shots on both ends, senior Cassidy Byrd broke the tie with a three-pointer. The Golden Bears were able to take back a four-point lead after a set of free-throws from Wheatcraft and a layup from Meghan DuBois in the final minute. The score sat at 32-28 at the half.
 
With not a lot of traction by either team in the third quarter, SMSU took their first lead of the game after a jumper by Abuk Akoi in the sixth minute. The Mustangs continued and led 44-42 going into the fourth quarter.
 
Byrd got it going again for the Golden Bears, hitting a three off the bat. CSP let that momentum carry them as DuBois was fed the fast break lay up three consecutive times for the Bears to go on a 9-0 run. Appearing again almost as fast as it left, Concordia gained back their lead and was up by 15 with two minutes to go of the game.
 
At the final buzzer, CSP ended on a 17-2 run and outscored the Mustangs 26-7 in the fourth quarter to earn the victory over SMSU.
 
Wheatcraft was the scoring leader for the Bears with 20 points along with six rebounds, four steals, two assists, and a block. DuBois went 46.2% from the field and ended as the second leading scorer with 13 points and five assists.
 
Sydney Zgutowicz had a career-best night on the boards, grabbing eight rebounds, including three on offense. Zgutowicz was the top rebounder for the Bears and also put up two blocks and two points in the win.
 
SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS
SMSU boasts an impressive roster with at three players averaging at least 11 points and three rebounds per game.
 
Meleah Reinhart anchors the Mustangs scoring attack, averaging 16.2 points per game (7th NSIC) to go along with 4.2 rebounds.
 
Sadie Stelter is key player for the Mustangs off the bench, averaging 12.8 points and 4.2 rebounds per game so far.
 
Jenna Borchers is also a player to watch for SMSU as she averages 11.8 points and 3.8 rebounds per game for the Mustangs this season.
 
The Mustangs are 5-1 so far this season with their lone loss coming against Minnesota State last Saturday.
 
The squad is shooting 40.8% from the floor (5th NSIC) and 30.6% from beyond the arc (10th NSIC) while holding their opponents to 32.9% from the floor (2nd NSIC).
 
KEY STATS
Through the first eight games of the season, the Golden Bears rank first in the NSIC in five different key statistical categories. CSP leads the conference in scoring offense (76.4), defensive field goal percentage (32.2%), 3-point percentage (43.8%), blocked shots per game (6.8), and assists per game (16.5). The Bears also rank third in the NSIC in scoring margin (+13.4) and field goal percentage (46.2%).
 
On the individual side, four Golden Bears rank in the conference top-ten in different statistical categories. Lindsey Becher ranks first in the NSIC in blocks per game with 3.1.
 
Riley Wheatcraft ranks third in the conference in field goals made with 43, fifth in field goal percentage (50.0%), and seventh in three-point field goals per game with 2.0.
 
Meghan DuBois sits fifth in the NSIC with 4.0 assists per game and seventh in assist to turnover ratio (1.3).
 
Sidney Wentland is also currently tenth in the conference with 0.9 blocks per game.