SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Despite trailing by double-digits in the first half, Concordia-St. Paul (7-2, 3-2 NSIC) dominated the second and third quarters and held on in the fourth for a 73-71 win at Augustana (3-5, 0-5 NSIC) on Saturday night at the Sanford Pentagon.
The Golden Bears return home next weekend for a Friday-Saturday back-to-back weekend against Southwest Minnesota State (7-2, 4-1 NSIC) and Sioux Falls (7-3, 4-1 NSIC). Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. each night at Gangelhoff Center.
Concordia trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half as Augustana methodically built a 33-20 lead on its home court midway through the second quarter.
The Golden Bear bench rallied, though, putting together 18 first half points behind eight from
Alyssa Daugherty, six points and four assists from
Megan Gamble and four points from
Sydney Schultz. The trio combined to shoot 6-11 from the floor in the half while the rest of the squad was 7-24.
Sydney Zgutowicz also had a strong first half with 10 points and six rebounds on 4-6 shooting including a pair of three-pointers in the first quarter for CSP's first six points of the game. She led CSP on the night with a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double.
Trailing by 13, CSP rolled out a 16-4 scoring run over the next 3:50 of play to trim it to a 1-point game (37-36) with 2:02 to play in the half. Daugherty scored all eight of her first half points during the run as CSP hit 7-of-8 from the field including a pair of Daugherty threes while Augustana was 2-for-5 shooting over the nearly four minute stretch. Daugherty's eight points are a new career-high.
Heading into the locker room down by three, 39-36, the Golden Bears shot 56-3 percent (9-16) in the second quarter with a 23-17 scoring margin to get back into the contest.
In the third quarter, Concordia established its inside presence as
Lindsey Becher made three layups in the first 2-plus minutes of the second half, including back-to-back buckets to give CSP its first lead of the night, 42-41 at the 7:48 mark of the third quarter.
It was part of a 12-0 scoring run in just over two minutes of action by Concordia to open up a 50-41 lead with 6:25 to play in the third, with Becher opening the run with a pair of layups for the lead and finding senior
Riley Wheatcraft for a three-pointer to close out the run with an assist.
Junior point guard
Meghan DuBois also had five straight points during the run including a three-pointer for her first bucket of the night as she scored 12 of her 14 points in the second half and added six rebounds and five assists in the game.
The 12-0 run was part of a larger stretch that saw Concordia open up an 11-point lead (56-45) with just over three minutes to play in the quarter.
From their 13-point deficit in the second quarter to their 11-point lead in the third, Concordia outscored Augustana 36-12 across 12:49 of game play on 16-26 shooting (4-10 3FG) while holding the Vikings to 4-21 from the floor and 0-6 from three.
While CSP shot 56.3 percent in the second quarter, they added a 57.9 percent (11-19) third quarter while holding Augie to just 27.8 percent (5-18).
The Vikings had a response, though, hitting a pair of three-pointers to trim the margin to five and scoring the final five points of the quarter as CSP led 60-56 after three.
In the fourth, Concordia's lead hovered by six and four points, a steady two possession advantage until Augustana's Vishe' Rabb knocked down a three-pointer with 5:13 left to make it a one possession, 3-point game (66-63).
On the next possession, Concordia traded a 1-2 free throw for a Viking layup as the lead was trimmed to two with under four minutes to go.
With the shot clock winding down, guards
Jadyn Hanson and DuBois converted big pull up jumpers inside the arc, though, draining time off the clock and adding points to the scoreboard. Hanson's came with 3:19 to play and DuBois' came with 1:45 with a pair of CSP defensive stops in between, giving Concordia a 71-65 lead.
The Vikings converted 1-2 at the line and added a three-pointer after a CSP turnover to get back into the game, though, with under a minute to go.
Still with a foul to give, Augustana committed a foul in the backcourt and another foul on Hanson's contested pull-up jumper in the lane as the shot clock wound down, putting the sophomore guard at the line with 16 seconds left.
Hanson made both, pushing the margin back to a two-score game, 73-69.
The Vikings converted a quick layup, as Aislinn Duffy extended her game-high to 25 points with nine seconds left, and Lauren Sees stole the inbound pass but missed the pull-up three-pointer from the top of the key on the break as CSP survived the late scare.
Four Golden Bears scored in double-figures in the win as Becher and Gamble each added 10 points, with Gamble contributing four assists and three rebounds in a career-high 32 minutes. Hanson added five assists along with six points.
For the game, Concordia finished holding Augustana to just 39.1 percent shooting, another sub-40 percent line for the opposition despite the Vikings' 14-30 (46.7 pct) first half line. CSP also held Augie to 32.0 percent (8-25) from the arc including 4-17 in the second half.
Meanwhile, CSP shot 43.9 percent (29-66) from the floor and only committed 11 turnovers in the contest. CSP's bench outscored Augustana's 22-10 and the Golden Bears had a 44-28 margin in the paint.
Duffy added 14 rebounds to go with her game-high 25 points and Sees had 17 points for the Vikings.
Concordia did not relinquish the lead after Becher's layup made it 42-41 in the third quarter, and the game only featured one tie (3-3) and one lead change throughout. The Golden Bears improve to 15-19 against the Vikings overall and 4-11 in road games with head coach
Amanda Johnson securing her second win at Augustana in five trips.
