ST. PAUL, Minn. - Paced by strong first half shooting and lights-out late game defense, Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball (2-0) cruised to a 62-46 victory on Saturday afternoon over Northern Michigan (3-1) at Gangelhoff Center.

The Golden Bears continue their season opening three game homestand, opening NSIC play on Tuesday, November 23 against Minnesota State at 5:30 p.m.

Concordia had a strong start to the game, opening up a 23-11 lead at the first quarter break en route to a 41-22 halftime lead. In the first half, CSP shot 57.1 percent (16-28) from the field while holding NMU to just 25.0 percent (9-36).

The Golden Bears opened up the lead even more early in the third quarter as sophomore guard Jadyn Hanson scored seven of her game-high 15 points in the first two-plus minutes of the second half, extending the Concordia lead to 22 points, 48-26 with 7:49 to play in the third. She finished the night 6-11 from the floor, knocking down 2-of-4 from the arc, adding five rebounds and three assists.

Hanson was one of three Golden Bears to score in double figures, joined by Lindsey Becher with 13 points and Meghan DuBois with 11. Becher was vital defensively, limiting Wildcats' leading scorer Makaylee Kuhn to 11 points on 5-14 shooting with eight rebounds, as the sophomore had started the year averaging 16.7 points and 9.7 rebounds in three games. Becher finished the game with seven blocked shots to tie her career-high for the third time, while DuBois had a double-double, cleaning up the defensive glass with a career-high 11 rebounds.

From there, the Wildcats clawed their way back into the game by limiting the Golden Bear shooting, stifling CSP to an 0-for-13 stretch of shooting as NMU went on a 20-2 run. The Wildcats cut the score to 50-46 with 7:31 to go in the contest but DuBois came up with her third and final steal of the night with 6:51 to play, starting a run-out that led to Becher assisting Hanson on the break to snap the field goal drought.

The defense took over down the stretch, holding Northern Michigan scoreless for the last seven and a half minutes with Hanson scoring six points in crunch time and Shawna Mell delivering a dagger of a three-pointer with 3:02 to play on a feed from Hanson to extend the lead back to 13.

In the closing seven and a half minutes, Concordia held the Wildcats scoreless on 0-for-11 shooting and 0-of-6 from the arc with a pair of turnovers.

While DuBois had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds, she also added five assists and three steals. Sydney Zgutowicz also had a strong all-around game, part of the interior defensive effort to limit NMU's Kuhn while posting seven points, six assists to just one turnover and five rebounds.

The Golden Bears played one of their cleanest games in recent years, committing just seven turnovers for the first time since February 1, 2020 in a 67-66 road loss at MSU Moorhead.

On the day, Concordia's defense held Northern Michigan to just 26.4 percent (19-72) shooting and 16.7 percent (3-18) from the arc, while converting 41.1 percent (23-56) from the floor and 35.0 percent (7-20) from three on the offensive end.

The Wildcats were led by a pair with 11 points, Kuhn and Emily Mueller who combined to shoot 10-for-30 in the game while Elizabeth Lutz had nine points and nine rebounds. Kuhn added eight rebounds and six assists for the Wildcats.