DULUTH, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (10-4, 6-4 NSIC) dropped its second straight game on the road, falling 86-42 at Minnesota Duluth (10-4, 8-2 NSIC) on Saturday evening at Romano Gym.

The Golden Bears have dropped their first two games against NSIC North Division competition, both on the road. CSP continues NSIC North play next Friday and Saturday, returning home against Minnesota Crookston (1-15, 0-10 NSIC) and Bemidji State (8-5, 6-3 NSIC), respectively.

Concordia, who plays the same scheduled opposite travel partner and NSIC South leading Minnesota State, didn't lose any ground on the Mavericks, who were defeated 65-52 at St. Cloud State tonight as top two teams in the NSIC North swept the top two teams from the NSIC South.

With Sioux Falls having a game canceled this weekend, the Cougars slide into the second spot in the NSIC South standings at 6-3, a half game behind MSU (7-3) and a half game ahead of CSP (6-4) with Southwest Minnnesota State (5-4) trailing CSP by a half game as the league tightens as the conference season nears its mid point.

The Bulldogs set the tone out of the gate, scoring the game's first 11 points and mounting a quick 20-3 lead with CSP narrowing it slightly to 25-11 at the first quarter break.

Senior Riley Wheatcraft, who had back-to-back 20-point, 4-three-point games, remained hot early by scoring all eight of her points on the night in the first quarter on 3-3 shooting including 2-2 from the arc.

As a team, CSP opened the game by hitting 3-of-5 from three but struggled inside, making 1-of-9 inside the arc.

That trend continued, as CSP went into the break having made 4-of-9 from three but just 3-of-23 on its two-point field goals as UMD pushed the lead into the 20-plus point margin with a 41-21 lead at half.

Things didn't even out from there, as CSP's shooting woes finished at 22.8 percent (13-57) from the field despite a solid showing from three-point distance at 41.2 percent (7-17). Inside the arc, it ended up being 6-of-40 for CSP.

The Bulldogs had their shot going all night, hitting at 53.8 percent (35-65) from the field and 53.3 percent (8-15) from deep. It's the highest anyone has shot against CSP's defense all year, and the shooting disparity also led to a big rebounding margin for UMD, 42-25.

Following a tough night at the stripe in St. Cloud on Friday, Concordia bounced back to shoot 90.0 percent (9-10) against UMD.

Concordia junior Sydney Zgutowicz was strong on the inside, securing 10 rebounds on the game for her fifth double-digit rebounding night of the year. Freshman Lindsey Becher added a team-high nine points to go with six rebounds but was held without a blocked shot for just the second time all year. 

The Bulldogs had four players in double-figures led by Brooke Olson's 13 points and nine rebounds.