ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (12-6, 8-6 NSIC) held Northern State (10-9, 7-7 NSIC) without a field goal in the final four-plus minutes of play, closing out the game on an 11-1 run to hand head coach
Amanda Johnson her 100th career win as the Golden Bears beat the Wolves 78-70 on Friday night at Gangelhoff Center.
Johnson is Concordia's third head coach to reach 100 career wins, joining her predecessor Paul Fessler (326-148) along with the first to do it, Jack Surridge (199-124). Johnson is now 100-71 in her seventh season at the helm of the program, taking over in January of 2016 and working towards her fourth consecutive winning campaign.
Concordia, who outscored the Wolves 24-2 off turnovers by using an 18-6 turnover margin in their favor, returns home tomorrow for a 3:30 tip against MSU Moorhead (6-9, 5-6 NSIC).
After the Wolves took a 69-67 lead with 4:01 to play on a three-pointer, the Golden Bears clamped down defensively, holding Northern State to just four field goal attempts while turning them over three times down the stretch.
Offensively, Concordia took a two-point deficit and got to work as
Lindsey Becher converted twice at the line to tie the game with just over three minutes to go and a minute later,
Meghan DuBois used a screen and pulled up for an open mid-range jumper for the lead.
DuBois had a big night, scoring 19 points with eight assists, knocking down 3-of-6 from the arc. Becher was also solid, scoring 15 points with seven rebounds, four blocked shots and three steals while getting to the foul line 12 times.
A steal by
Jadyn Hanson on the ensuing possession allowed the Golden Bears to go back inside offensively as DuBois found
Sydney Zgutowicz for a power layup with 1:18 to play for a two-possession lead, 73-69.
Zgutowicz ended the night with 17 points and four rebounds. Zgutowicz and Becher each drew seven fouls for a strong inside presence against a Wolves frontcourt that features the nation's second-ranked shot blocker, Laurie Rogers, who fouled out tonight in 22 minutes with eight points, six rebounds and three blocks. NSU's other inside threat, 6-foot, 4-inch forward Kailee Oliverson, scored a game-high 29 points with 12 rebounds on 11-18 shooting and committed four fouls in 34 minutes.
Concordia was strong at the foul line down the stretch, converting 7-of-8 in the last four minutes after a rough first three-and-a-half quarters from the stripe as CSP started off 12-of-23.
The Golden Bears ended up with 31 free throw attempts, making 19 and attempting more than twice as many as Northern State who went 12-of-15. The Wolves finished with a pair of players who fouled out and two others had four fouls, while no one fouled out for Concordia who had just one player pick-up four fouls on the night.
Hanson was Concordia's fourth scorer in double-figures with 11 points including 3-of-4 from the arc and
Riley Wheatcraft had nine points and four steals as the starting five once again reached or threatened double-digits.
While Concordia was good in the closing minutes from the foul line, they were strong throughout from the arc, hitting 9-of-20 as a team to shoot 45.0 percent while limiting NSU to just 22.2 percent (4-18) three-point shooting.
Overall, the game featured 10 ties and 16 lead changes and no one led by more than eight points throughout play. Despite the amount of ties and lead changes, Concordia led for 25:11 of the 40 minutes of play, while NSU had the lead for just over eight minutes.
