ST. PAUL, Minn. – Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball (9-2, 5-2 NSIC) opens the New Year with a chance to secure a marquee victory, heading to Mankato to face NSIC leader and 21^st-ranked Minnesota State (11-0, 7-0 NSIC) on Sunday afternoon (4 p.m.) at Taylor Center.
 
It's an early season primetime matchup between the top two teams in the NSIC South Division, and a rematch of November's tilt that saw Minnesota State overcome a 12-point deficit late in the third quarter as the visitors came away with an 84-74 win over CSP at Gangelhoff Center.
 
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This Sunday's road game at Minnesota State will be broadcast by Casey Lloyd handling the play-by-play for the Mavericks' webcast production crew.
 
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SERIES HISTORY: CSP 22, MSU 22
After the Mavericks evened the all-time series at 22 apiece in November, the teams will look to break the deadlock in the 45^th matchup between the programs in a series that dates back to the 1974-75 season when MSU won the first six games (then known as Mankato State) between the 1974-75 and 1999-2000 seasons when CSP was known as the Concordia College Comets and members of the NAIA and Upper Midwest Athletic Conference.
 
In Concordia's second season in the NSIC and at the Division II level in 2000-01, the Golden Bears opened up an 8-game winning streak against the Mavericks through December of 2007. Since, the series has been back-and-forth, with the Mavericks leveling the ledger in November.
 
Concordia is an even 10-10 in 20 previous trips to the Key City (locations not recorded prior to 1999), winning its last visit to Taylor Center last February 20, 2021 (99-93) the day after an 89-63 loss. MSU has defended its homecourt in four of the last five meetings in Mankato, though.
 
Head coach Amanda Johnson carries a 6-6 record against MSU since she was promoted to head coach in January of 2016 and holds a 2-4 road record against the Mavericks.
 
Since MSU joined the NSIC in the 2008-09 season, Concordia is 12-15 in Northern Sun league games against the Mavericks and 2-0 in NSIC Tournament matchups, both road wins in 2009 and in 2010.
 
LAST MEETING, 2021-22: MSU 84, CSP 74
In an early season battle of unbeaten 2-0 teams, the Golden Bears opened up a 14-point first half lead and carried a 12-point lead late into the third quarter in the NSIC season opener for both teams. But the Mavericks outscored the Golden Bears 24-5 from there, spanning nearly nine minutes of play late in the third and through much of the fourth quarter to claim a 75-68 lead with under five minutes left of competition. Concordia responded with four straight points to push it back to a 1-possession game with 3:43 to go, but a 7-point spurt by the Mavericks put it into double digits, matching the final 84-74 margin of 10 points.
 
Meghan DuBois led CSP with 15 points and hit 3-of-3 from the arc, adding five rebounds, five assists and four steals. Second year freshman Sarah Kuma had a big first half off the bench with 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting and played big minutes in the second half after Jadyn Hanson left early in the third quarter with an injury. Kuma finished with a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
 
While the injury to Hanson took CSP's early season scoring leader off the floor, it also thinned the team's backcourt depth and limited its defensive options against MSU leader Joey Batt, who had already compiled 12 points in the first half despite Hanson's presence making her points more challenging. Following Hanson's injury, Batt scored 20 second half points to lead the Mavericks and drew eight Golden Bear fouls, making 8-of-11 at the stripe while shooting 10-of-16 from the field and 4-of-5 from three.
 
For Concordia, all five players on the floor at the end of the night finished with four fouls.
 
Second year freshman Lindsey Becher also had a big game inside with 10 points and five blocked shots while Sydney Schultz had 10 points and eight rebounds in 13 minutes off the bench. Sydney Zgutowicz added to the frontcourt with nine rebounds, including six on the offensive glass.
Concordia's defense held an MSU squad that entered play shooting 40.3 percent from the arc and making 12.5 three-pointers per game to just 7-of-17 from three-point range, limiting their top two perimeter threats, Taylor Theusch and Destinee Bursch, to 1-of-3 from long range. The duo entered having hit 15-of-24 (.625).
 
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS
Since their November 23 visit to St. Paul, the Mavericks have continued their undefeated start to the 2021-22 campaign, winning a pair of games in Texas against DII opposition (Texas A&M Kingsville & St. Mary's) before completing the NSIC South sweep on the first run through divisional play. Aside from a 5-point overtime win at Augustana, the closest margins have been 9-point wins at Winona State and at home against Sioux Falls with the rest being double-digit victories.
 
The Mavericks lead the NSIC with 84.5 points per game, more than 10 points per game than the second place team and hold a +17.6 average scoring margin, nearly 7.5 points per game higher than CSP's +10.2 which is second-best in the league.
 
The Mavericks have been great from the arc, hitting .342 (3^rd NSIC) on the year while sinking 7.5 threes per game, ranking second in the league. And while they're hitting threes at an efficient and rapid pace, the inside game leads the Northern Sun with 14.0 offensive rebounds per game.
 
Defensively, MSU forces a league-high 25.8 turnovers per game and holds a league-leading +10.8 turnover margin, stepping on second place St. Cloud State's 4.0.
 
Joey Batt, who put up 32 points against Concordia in November, leads the team and is third in the league with 18.0 points per game while Destinee Bursch adds 11.8 per game. Batt gets it done from all over, ranking seventh in the NSIC in field goal percentage (.471), eighth in free throw percentage (.809) where she has made 55-of-68 in 11 games, and 20^th in three-pointers made with 13 in 11 games (1.2/game). Batt also distributes, leading the team and ranking 11^th in the NSIC with 3.2 assists per game while committing the fewest turnovers per game (1.7) among NSIC players averaging at least 3.0 assists per game which puts her fourth in the league with a 1.8 assist-turnover ratio while her 3.0 steals per game are second-best in the conference.
 
The league-leading Maverick defense in turnovers created has six players in the league's top-23 in steals per game, three in the top-10 and five in the top-16.
 
Taylor Theusch is the team's top perimeter threat, ranking fourth in the NSIC with 2.4 threes per game with 26 on the season.
 
HOT START TO 2021-22
The Golden Bears got out to a 6-1 start to the season, their best start since the 2009-10 team opened the year 10-0 en route to a 26-6 finish and NCAA Central Region Tournament runner-up finish (Sweet Sixteen).
 
Now 9-2, it's the best start through 11 games since that same 2009-10 squad opened the year 10-1.  
 
BEST IN NSIC: CSP DEFENSE
The Golden Bears have been consistently atop the Northern Sun defensively this year, leading the league with the 24^th-ranked field goal percentage defense (34.4 pct), a league-high 4.6 blocked shots per game and a league-leading 42.3 rebounds per game. They also rank second in rebound margin (+4.5), defensive rebounds (30.0, 18^th in DII), and three-point defense (25.0, 34^th DII).

CSP has only allowed one team to shoot above 40 percent from the field on the season and in their two losses, MSU shot 39.4 percent and Wayne State shot 40.7 percent, the highest two totals of the year against CSP. CSP has also shot better than their opponent in all nine wins while being outshot in their only two losses. On the perimeter, CSP has yet to allow an opponent to make at least 10 three-pointers in a game and only allowed a team to shoot above 32 percent from the arc two times, and in both of those games limited the opponents to just seven made threes in 17 attempts (.412).
 
The Golden Bears set a school record with 15 blocked shots in the December 17 win over Southwest Minnesota State, the second-most in Division II basketball this year and a league single-game high.
 
BECHER A TOP BLOCKER
Second year freshman forward Lindsey Becher, the 2020-21 NSIC Freshman of the Year, leads the country with 39 blocked shots following an 11-block performance to set a CSP record and falling one block shy of the NSIC record while establishing the top mark in the country across all three divisions for the season.
 
The big performance helped her earn NSIC South Division Player of the Week honors, the second of the year for the program as she joins Meghan DuBois who earned the nod after the team's first two games of the year.
 
Last weekend, Becher averaged 16.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, 6.0 blocks, 3.5 assists and 3.0 steals as CSP swept a big NSIC weekend from Southwest Minnesota State and Sioux Falls. She was two rebounds shy of a triple-double against the Mustangs, going for 21 points, 11 blocks and eight rebounds before putting up 11 points, five rebounds, five steals and a block the next night against USF.
 
She's leading the team and 15^th in the league with 13.1 points per game, is ninth in the league in field goal percentage (.450) and 15^th in free throw percentage (.718) on the offensive side.

Becher has scored in double-figures in 10 straight games and has scored at least eight points in every game this year. She's had four or more blocked shots five times, had a block in 10 of 11 games and multiple blocks in seven games.
 
She's a career 11.9 scorer with 5.2 rebounds and 87 blocks in 28 games (27 starts), over three blocks per game while shooting just under 50 percent from the field (48.7) and 76.3 percent from the line (74-97).
 
DUBOIS A TOP DISTRIBUTOR
Junior point guard Meghan DuBois leads the Northern Sun with 5.5 assists per game, is second in the NSIC in assist-turnover ratio (1.97), is fifth in the league in defensive rebounding (5.4) and sixth in the league in steals (2.45).
 
The point guard can also score, currently second on the team and 18^th in the NSIC in scoring (12.4), second on the team with 16 three-pointers at a 34.8 percent clip and is among the league's top-15 in free throw percentage (15^th, .739), free throws made (10^th, 34) and attempted (9^th, 46). She's also third on the team with 5.6 rebounds per game and presides over an offense that has five players scoring in double-figures.
 
Like Becher, DuBois has scored at least eight points every game and double figures in nine of 11 contests. She's had at least four assists in every game and had at least four rebounds in each of the first nine games before the streak was snapped against SMSU & USF. She's had a steal in 10 of 11 games and multiple steals in nine of 11 games.
 
She had her first double-double of the year in the second game of the season, a win over Northern Michigan with 11 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and three steals to secure NSIC Player of the Week honors after scoring 16 points with nine assists and seven rebounds in the season opener earlier in the week.
 
As a Golden Bear, DuBois has 595 points, 250 rebounds, 230 assists and 113 steals in 72 games (50 starts) while her 2021-22 averages of 12.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 2.5 steals are all career-highs.
 
WHEATCRAFT FOR THREE
Two-time All-NSIC senior guard Riley Wheatcraft is the top perimeter scoring threat in a balanced Golden Bear offensive attack where all five starters average in double-figures. Her 11.6 season scoring average remains in the top-25 of the league, she's a top-15 rebounder at 6.4 per game and leads the team and ranks 12^th in the NSIC with 1.8 three-pointers made per game for 20 on the year while nabbing 1.7 steals per game, good for 15^th in the conference.
 
She's the team's top 20-point threat, with a pair of 20-point games with 20 points in 18 minutes in the season opener and 27 points in the team's road win at NAIA nationally-ranked Southeastern in Florida. She's had six games in double-figures, collected at least three rebounds in every game and had multiple steals six times this year. She's knocked down three or more three-pointers four times this year, and made at least one three-pointer in nine of 11 games.
 
She picked up her first double-double of the year with 11 points and 11 rebounds in the loss at Wayne State.
 
In her career in 76 games (50 starts), she's scored 706 career points with 306 rebounds, 120 assists, 105 steals and 53 blocked shots while making 128 three-pointers at a 37.2 percent rate. She's averaged in double figures three years in a row while her 6.4 rebounds is on a career-best pace this year.
 
ZGUTOWICZ ATTACKS THE GLASS
Sophomore forward Sydney Zgutowicz is the league's third leading rebounder with 7.8 per game and is also among the league's top-20 in assists, ranking 18^th with 2.5 per game.
 
Her 10.1 points and 7.8 rebounds is nearly a double-double per game and she's registered a double-double in two of her last three games with 16 points and 10 rebounds in a win at Augustana and 14 points and 10 rebounds in a win over SMSU. She's scored at least 14 points in three-straight and has five games in double-digits scoring to go with three games in double-digits for rebounds with a high of 13 at Southeastern.
 
She has at least four rebounds every game this year and has been a consistent passer with multiple assists in all but two games, as well.
 
Now in her third year on the floor and fourth in the program, Zgutowicz has 322 points, 232 rebounds, 72 assists and 43 steals in 50 games (24 starts). She's putting up career-highs in points, rebounds and assists this year.
 
HANSON SCORING THREAT
Third year sophomore guard Jadyn Hanson has scored in double-figures six times in 10 games this season including three of the last four games with a career-high of 19 points in the loss at Wayne State. She put up 11 points in each game in CSP's last time out in wins over SMSU and USF.
 
In 57 career games (11 starts), Hanson has scored 359 points with 132 rebounds, 70 assists and 39 steals.
 
BENCH NOTES
Freshman Megan Gamble has continued to increase her productivity while her minutes have climbed as a result. She scored 9-plus points three times in a four game stretch in December including 10 points, four assists and three rebounds in the road win at Augustana where she clocked a season-high 31 minutes. In CSP's last games, she had back-to-back six rebound performances and added three and two blocks, respectively. On the year, she is averaging 4.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and is shooting 56.0 percent (14-25) from the floor. While Gamble has made a strong impact as a rookie, fourth year junior Sydney Schultz continues to provide a steady veteran presence, averaging 5.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 51.2 percent shooting (21-41). She's clocked at least 11 minutes in all but two games this year and scored four or more points eight times with a pair of 10-point performances. Schultz has played 64 career games in four years with 406 points (6.3) and 223 rebounds while shooting 57.3 percent from the field. Redshirt freshman Alyssa Daugherty, now in her third year as a Golden Bear, had her top performance at Augustana. With CSP facing a double-digit second quarter deficit, Daugherty scored a career-high eight points in the quarter to spark a 36-12 stretch of play for the team across the second and third quarters in a road victory. She's coming off a career-high 17 minutes against SMSU with six points (all at the FT line, 6-7) and clocked 11 minutes the next night in a win over Sioux Falls. She's played double-digit minutes three times this year and has set a new career-high with 21 points on the season.