ST. PAUL, Minn. - Armed with a 2-0 start to the 2021-22 season, Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball enters Thanksgiving week looking to continue the early season hot streak in league play, hosting Minnesota State (2-0) in the NSIC opener on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at Gangelhoff Center. The team then heads to the MSP Airport for warmer weather, heading to Lakeland, Florida where they'll play at Southeastern University (7-1) on Friday at 4 p.m. CST before a neutral site meeting with University of the Sciences (Pa.) (2-0) on Saturday at 2 p.m. CST on the campus of Southeastern.

FIRST RESPONDERS NIGHT
For First Responders Appreciation Night, all first responders will receive complimentary admission to the Tuesday night NSIC opening night doubleheader against Minnesota State.

CSP CAMPUS MASKING POLICY
Visitors to Concordia-St. Paul should observe the general campus masking guidelines. All unvaccinated individuals are required to mask at all times while indoors on campus. For individuals who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, masks are strongly encouraged. Thank you for abiding by the policies as set forth by campus administration.

BUY TICKETS TO HOME GAMES ONLINE
New this year to Golden Bears is online ticketing. Buy tickets in advance and bring your QR code to the gates to skip the line! Friends and families who utilize the pass list will also be utilizing the online ticketing service while all students, faculty & staff will access their free CSP tickets through the service. Fans do not need to create a login, remember a username or password or download an app to purchase tickets, and tickets can still be purchased with cash at the gates. Find out more in the partnership announcement between CSP Athletics and HomeTown Ticketing.
 
WATCH ONLINE – NSIC NETWORK
All Golden Bear football games will be available to watch online, free of charge, powered by the NSIC Network, supported by BlueFrame Technology. Visit nsicnetwork.com/cspbears on a laptop or desktop computer, download the NSIC Network app on your mobile device or watch on your supported OTT provider such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV. Search "NSIC Network" and download the app for the league's full sport and team lineups. NSIC NETWORK FAQ
 
All home games will feature the play-by-play broadcasting provided by Dan Flanagan, the voice of the Golden Bears for over a decade. The St. Paul, Minnesota native studied broadcasting at Fordham University (N.Y.) where he was the voice of the Rams' football and basketball teams in the NCAA Division I Patriot League.
 
DOWNLOAD THE APP
Fans can download the CSP Bears fan app, free of charge and available in the App Store or on Google Play. The app contains rosters, schedules, scores, stats, news, social media and more! Customize your options to get notifications to your favorite teams, as well. Search "CSP Bears" in the app store to stay up-to-date on Golden Bear athletics.

SERIES HISTORY: CSP 22, MSU 21
The Golden Bears and Mavericks will meet for the 44th time, with CSP holding the slight edge in the all-time series, 22-21. The series opened in the 1974-75 season, with MSU (then known as Mankato State) winning the first six games between the 1974-75 and 1999-2000 seasons when Concordia, then known as the Comets, was a member of NAIA and the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) for the first five matchups, with the sixth occurring in CSP's first year as a Division II program becoming known as the Golden Bears.

In Concordia's second Division II season in 2000-01, the Golden Bears opened up an eight game winning streak against the Mavericks through December of 2007. Since, the series has been back-and-forth. While CSP has won the most recent outing last February, MSU has won two of the last three. However, Concordia has won three of the last five.

Concordia is 12-5 in 17 home meetings against MSU (games between 1975 and 1990 location is not recorded) including three straight wins at Gangelhoff Center. MSU's last win in St. Paul was December 17, 2016.

LAST MEETING, 2021: CSP & MSU SPLIT IN MANKATO
In the 2021 season, which started late and was truncated due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Concordia and Minnesota State played twice on back-to-back nights in Mankato on February 19-20. MSU won the first, 89-63 before Concordia bounced back with a 99-93 win in a high scoring weekend at Taylor Center.

In the first game, Maddy Olson scored 20 points off the bench to lead four Mavericks in double-figures while Rachel Shunski had 10 points and 11 rebounds. The Mavericks were able to put up 89 points despite Concordia holding them to just 38.7 percent (29-75) shooting as the Mavericks collected 19 offensive rebounds and forced 25 Golden Bear turnovers which together led to a 40-22 scoring margin off turnovers and second chance points. Sidney Wentland led CSP with 14 points while Sydney Schultz scored 13 points off the bench as CSP shot 35.1 percent (20-57) but had 18 fewer attempts from the floor.

In the rematch, the two teams each shot closer to 50 percent and while MSU attempted nearly the same amount of shots (74), Concordia was right there with 70 with the Golden Bears executing from the arc at a 39.1 percent (9-23) clip compared to 36.4 percent (4-11) for MSU, and also outscored the Mavericks 24-17 at the foul line. Sidney Wentland led seven Golden Bears in double-figures with 22 points, adding seven rebounds while Riley Wheatcraft had 18 points and nine rebounds. Concordia trimmed its turnovers to 14, 11 fewer than the previous night, and were only out-rebounded 42-41 overall and 15-12 on the offensive glass. Joey Batt led MSU with 29 points on 10-19 shooting as all five Maverick starters hit double-figures, but the CSP bench outscored MSU's 23-13 on the night.

SERIES HISTORY: CSP VS SOUTHEASTERN & SCIENCES
The Golden Bears will be matching up with Southeastern and University of the Sciences for the first time in program history. The Southeastern Fire are 7-1 overall and off to a 3-0 start to Sun Conference play as members of the NAIA. Last year, the Fire went 26-3 overall and 20-0 in the Sun, coasting to a Sun Conference Tournament title before falling to Indiana Wesleyan in the Round of 16 in the NAIA national tournament. They were predicted #1 in the Sun Conference preseason poll and are currently ranked #5 in the NAIA Top-25.

USciences, a Division II program from Philadelphia in the Central Athletic Collegiate Conference (CACC), is off to a 2-0 start with non-conference home wins over Saint Rose and St. Michael's. Prior to Saturday's game, they'll face a road game at Florida Tech and a neutral site game against Bemidji State at Southeastern's Furnace. The Devils did not have an official season in 2020-21, but were mostly recently a 26-4 finisher in 2019-20 including an 18-1 record in CACC play, reaching the NCAA Division II East Region Tournament where their first round meeting with Molloy was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Devils were ranked #16 in the WBCA Division II Top-25 heading into the regional tournament. They were picked second in the 2021-22 CACC preseason poll.

ABOUT THE MAVERICKS
The Mavericks opened 2021-22 with a pair of wins at Taylor Center last week, a 42-point margin over cross-town rival Bethany Lutheran (107-65) before a 93-75 win over Parkside (Wis.) on Saturday. Much like Concordia, the Mavericks started with a UMAC opponent before a neighboring Division II opponent for an in-region contest. The Mavericks are averaging 100 points per game to start the year.

Destinee Bursch led MSU with 25 points in 17 minutes off the bench in the season opener against Bethany Lutheran, with Joey Batt adding 16 while Taylor Theusch also came off the bench with 15 points. Theusch hit five three-pointers while Bursch hit four as the Mavericks knocked down 15 from the arc.

Against the Rangers, MSU had four players in double figures led by Batt's 21 points on 12-12 free throw shooting with six assists, three steals and no turnovers in 34 minutes. Theusch once again connected from the arc, hitting 4-of-5 for 18 points in 24 minutes off the bench while Bursch added 10 points off the bench, hitting all four shots from the field including a pair of three-pointers. Tayla Stuttley added 16 points from the starting lineup as MSU topped double-digit three-pointers again (10-23).

Through two games, Batt leads the team with 18.5 points followed by Bursch (17.5), Theusch (16.5) and Stuttley (11.0) with Theusch and Bursch hitting nine and six three-pointers, respectively. MSU is shooting 40.3 percent (25-62) from three in the first two games, forcing 50 turnovers and committing just 27.

CSP OFF TO 2-0 START
The Golden Bears opened the year with a pair of home games last week, starting with a 97-65 win over defending UMAC champion North Central before a strong 62-46 win over Northern Michigan in a Division II in-region contest. The Golden Bears are fourth in the NSIC in scoring offense (79.5) and defense (55.5), also ranking third in the league in both field goal percentage offense (47.4) and defense (29.1) and lead the league in three-point defense, holding opponents to 17.4 percent (8-46) from the arc.

All five Golden Bear starters are averaging in double-figures: Jadyn Hanson (15.0), Riley Wheatcraft (13.5), Meghan DuBois (13.5), Lindsey Becher (10.5) and Sydney Zgutowicz (10.5) while Sarah Kuma is pitching in 8.0 points off the bench. Hanson has put up 15 points in each game, ranking 13th in the league in scoring while leading the team and ranking eighth in the NSIC with a 59.1 percent (13-22) field goal percentage.

Concordia is off to a solid start offensively, shooting 47.4 percent (64-135) from the field despite a slower start from three at 32.1 percent (17-53) and the stripe with 51.9 percent (14-27). Inside the arc, Concordia has been strong, converting 57.3 percent (47-82). While the overall team three-point percentage is 32.1, Wheatcraft at 45.5 percent (5-11), Hanson at 50.0 percent (3-6) and DuBois at 37.5 percent (3-8) are off to solid starts from deep. Wheatcraft is fourth in the league among qualified shooters in three-point percentage and third with 2.5 three's made per game.

The Golden Bears have also been strong taking care of the ball with 13.0 turnovers game and a +3 average in the take-give along with a 46.0 to 40.5 rebound margin. Inside, Becher has eight blocked shots including seven against Northern Michigan to tie her career high and leads the league with 4.0 blocks per game.

NSIC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Junior point guard Meghan DuBois has had a strong all-around start to the season, averaging 13.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 2.5 assists to engineer a pair of Golden Bear wins while earning NSIC South Division Player of the Week honors. She is shooting 57.9 percent (11-19) from the field with three three-pointers. After opening the year with 16 points on 7-9 shooting with nine assists and seven rebounds against North Central, she followed it up with a double-double, scoring 11 points with 11 rebounds, five assists and three steals against NMU.

She leads the league with 7.0 assists per game, ranks fourth in the league with 9.0 rebounds per game and is 10th in field goal percentage (57.9).