LAKELAND, Fla. - Concordia-St. Paul senior guard Riley Wheatcraft scored a season-high 27 points to lead the Golden Bears (3-1) to a 74-72 road win at the fifth-ranked NAIA team in the country, defeating Southeastern University at The Furnace at the SEU Thanksgiving Tournament.

The improves Concordia to 3-1 overall while the Southeastern Fire remain 7-1 overall, using this weekend's tournament games as exhibition per NAIA scheduling policies. Concordia will face University of the Sciences, a strong Division II team from Philadelphia tomorrow at 2 p.m. (CST), a squad that is receiving votes in the latest WBCA Division II Top-25.

It's the second 20-plus point effort for Wheatcraft, shooting 10-17 from the floor, knocking down 4-8 from three while adding five of her six rebounds on the offensive glass with three steals. Concordia collected 18 offensive rebounds on 32 missed shots in the game and held a +5 rebound margin (44-39).

Concordia jumped out to an early double-digit lead, carrying the first quarter by a 22-12 margin and leading by as many as 11 as Meaghan DuBois made a layup to cap off an 11-0 run for an early 19-8 lead at 2:31 in the quarter. DuBois clocked all 40 minutes for the second straight game, scoring 11 points with six rebounds, five assists and a pair of steals.

Things evened out as the Fire brought the halftime margin to three, 33-30 with Wheatcraft scoring 16 points while playing 19 of the first 20 minutes.

While the third quarter was close, with five ties, the lead didn't change hands until the final two minutes of play when it shifted back-and-forth four times with Lindsey Becher making a layup late in the third for a 1-point lead, 51-50 heading into the final frame.

Becher had a strong night for Concordia with 17 points on 6-9 shooting, eight rebounds and three more blocked shots giving her 16 blocks through the first four games. She had 11 points in the second half on 4-5 shooting including all three blocks.

In the fourth, Concordia controlled the pace, flexing the lead back to eight, 66-58 with 3:15 to play on a Wheatcraft steal and layup. The Golden Bears led throughout the quarter, with the Fire whittling it down late as Angela Perry made a three-pointer with 20 seconds to go to cut it to a 1-point game, 73-72.

Concordia was able to offset 2-of-6 foul shooting in the final 23 seconds by forcing a missed layup in the closing seconds, exiting The Furnace with a road win.

Joining Wheatcraft, Becher and DuBois in double-figures was Jadyn Hanson with 11 points in 32 minutes off the bench while Sydney Zgutowicz led the team on the glass with a career-high 13 rebounds (seven offensive), adding seven points, three steals and three assists.

Concordia's defense cooled the Fire to 35.6 percent (26-73) shooting in The Furnace, including another strong defensive effort guarding the arc as SEU was 17.6 percent (6-34).