MANKATO, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul sophomore guard
Jadyn Hanson's game winning jumper from just off the elbow propelled the Golden Bears to an 85-83 comeback win at #21 Minnesota State on Sunday afternoon at Taylor Center.
The win improves Concordia to 10-2 overall and 6-2 NSIC while the Mavericks drop their first game of the season, falling to 11-1 overall and 7-1 NSIC. The Golden Bears trail the Mavericks by just one game in the NSIC South Division with each team having faced the full slate of division squads. Each team will head on the road to North Division opposition next weekend, with CSP heading to St. Cloud State (9-2, 7-1 NSIC) on Friday and Minnesota Duluth (8-4, 6-2 NSIC) on Saturday; while MSU will take the opposite path.
It's head coach
Amanda Johnson's first career road win against a WBCA Division II nationally-ranked opponent in seven chances as Concordia improves to 3-11 against nationally-ranked teams under Coach Johnson (2016-present). It snaps a six game losing streak to ranked teams, with CSP's last win over a ranked team coming on November 11, 2017 on a neutral floor over Harding (Ark.) in Kansas City, Missouri (78-67).
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Concordia had the upper hand in the opening minutes as senior guard
Riley Wheatcraft knocked down a pair of three-pointers and a layup to build a 10-8 lead at 6:09 of the first quarter. But a 12-0 run by Minnesota State helped the Mavericks mount a 10-point lead at the quarter break, 22-12.
MSU extended its lead to a game-high 13 points as Taylor Theusch drained a three-pointer on MSU's first possession of the quarter.
The Golden Bears tightened the game, though, scoring the next nine points as part of a 14-2 run as Wheatcraft's steal and fastbreak layup narrowed it back to one, 27-26 with 5:50 to play in the first half. Wheatcraft had 11 of the team's first 26 points.
But Concordia couldn't match the Mavericks, who continued to hold the slight edge, leading 45-41 at the break despite 16 first half points from Wheatcraft.
In the third quarter, Wheatcraft kept chipping away at the Mavericks, finally breaking through with a three-pointer to knot the game at 45 in the opening minute of the third quarter. After MSU responded on the other end, the two teams went dry for nearly two minutes when junior point guard
Meghan DuBois picked up a steal and secured a put-back on her own miss to tie it back up at 47.
Wheatcraft finished with a game-high 20 points including four three-pointers, adding five rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks. DuBois finished with 18 points including 3-of-4 from three, adding nine rebounds, six assists and two steals.
The ties at 45 and 47 were the first ties since the game was tied 10-10 with 5:48 to play in the first quarter.
And once again, Minnesota State had answers on its home floor, looking to preserve its perfect season, pushing the margin back to five nearing the midway point of the third quarter (54-49) and despite CSP bringing it back to a 1-point game twice, the Mavericks nudged the margin back up to nine a pair of times late in the third, 67-58 (1:23) and 69-60 (1:04).
The Golden Bears wouldn't go away, though, as
Lindsey Becher scored the last three points of the quarter and a buzzer-beater by the Mavericks was waived off as CSP trailed by six (69-63) at the end of three.
The fourth quarter started with the game's second extended scoring dry spell, with Becher finally converting 1-of-2 at the line for the first point of the quarter at 7:50 and Emily Russo made the first basket of the quarter at 7:34 to push MSU's lead back to seven, 71-64.
That's when Concordia made its move with a 10-2 stretch of play that held the Mavericks to just two points across four-plus minutes of play. Becher and Hanson were huge during the run, with Becher making a pair of layups and Hanson hitting a pull-up jumper before handing out the game-tying assist following Becher's fifth block, setting up DuBois for the three-pointer to knot the game at 73 with 4:49 to play.
Becher had 12 points, eight rebounds and five blocks on the day in 24 minutes.
A minute later, Wheatcraft closed out the run with a free throw to put CSP on top 74-73 for its first lead since it was 10-8 with 6:09 to play in the first quarter.
After MSU briefly reclaimed the lead,
Sydney Zgutowicz took control of the game, with a layup to put CSP ahead 76-75, an offensive rebound and a pair of free throws and a three-point play before Hanson converted two more at the stripe in a 9-2 scoring run that gave Concordia an 83-77 lead with under two minutes to play.
Zgutowicz finished with her third double-double in her last four games, going for 15 points and 13 rebounds and sinking all five of her free throws.
The Mavericks turned the tables late, though, as the Mavericks forced a pair of turnovers in the final minute and had an offensive rebound and put-back. Joey Batt, who scored 32 points to lead MSU's comeback at Concordia in November, had a pair of buckets down the stretch and finished with 19 points, but was shadowed often by Hanson who played 37 minutes and held Batt to 8-of-22 shooting.
After Batt's final bucket with 34 seconds to go to tie the game at 83, the Golden Bears crashed the offensive glass to get multiple chances to win, with freshman
Megan Gamble hustling to the corner after DuBois' missed free throw and quickly dishing to Hanson, who took a bounce and finished the off-balance, contested jumper with 1.2 seconds to play.
The basket did not allow the Mavericks a chance to execute a buzzer-beating attempt as the Golden Bears secured the win.
Hanson finished the game with 10 points on 3-8 shooting, but was 4-5 at the line and had five assists, two steals and helped keep Batt in check. Gamble led CSP's bench with 10 points, hitting 3-6 from the field and 4-4 at the line while adding three rebounds, a block and a steal.
While Batt led MSU with 19 points, Emily Russo led the bench with 16 points on 8-13 shooting and eight rebounds and Maddy Olson had 10 points.
Concordia shot 46.7 percent (28-60) as a team and their physical play put them at the foul line 32 times, making 22 (68.8%) while MSU shot 40.0 percent (34-85) and only got to the foul line seven times, making all seven.
The top turnover-creating team in the NSIC, MSU entered play forcing 25 turnovers per game. Today, CSP committed 22 but the Golden Bears had a 16-13 advantage in points off turnovers despite MSU only committing 15.
