Houghton, Mich. - The Concordia St. Paul women's basketball team (0-1) played their first game of the 2022-23 season on the road against Michigan Tech (3-0), falling to the Huskies, 64-54.
 
Sophomore guard Sarah Kuma led the way for CSP with a career high 17 points. Kuma shot 71.4% from the field including 3-5 from the 3-point line. Lindsey Becher also put double digits on the board, scoring ten points to go along with five blocks and four rebounds. 
 
The Huskies and the Golden Bears went back and forth in the first quarter with a Jadyn Hanson jump shot bringing CSP within two points, 14-12. Michigan Tech took advantage of Concordia turnovers to go on a 13-4 run and race out to an 11 point lead halfway through the second quarter. Concordia got help from Kuma, who went on a run of her own, scoring nine points in two minutes, hitting two 3-pointers and converting a 3-point point play to close out the half. 

The CSP women battled back to within four points after Ally Gietzel scored off a turnover with six minutes left in the third quarter. The Huskies slowly gained control of the game in the back half of the quarter to extend their lead back to ten (51-41). Hanson nearly cut into the lead with a buzzer beating floater, but it was waived off after it was ruled that the clock ran out before the ball had completely left her hand. Outside of another Kuma 3-pointer with 7:25 to go in the game, bringing the Bears briefly to within eight points, Michigan Tech was able to hold a double digit lead the rest of the way to win 64-54.
 
As a team, the Golden Bears had 57 field goal attempts and shot 38.6% from the field. Concordia led Michigan Tech 30-22 in points in the paint, while the Huskies outscored CSP 21-13 on points off turnovers. The teams were nearly even in rebounding (37-36) with MTU ahead by one. 

Four CSP women scored their first points as a Golden Bear during their season debut. Transfers Ally Gietzel, Jalyn Shaw, and Raegan Alexander saw significant action in the game with all of them getting on the board for the first time in navy and gold. Shaw was the third leading scorer for Concordia, putting up nine points along with four rebounds and three steals. Gietzel and Alexander tied for the team high in rebounds with six, with Gietzel adding eight points and Alexander scoring her first two points since joining Concordia. Makayla Johnson got on the board in her first game action for CSP after redshirting for 2021-22.
 
The women's team is back on the road this Saturday for the HARIBO Invitational against Parkside University (1-1), with tip-off at 1 p.m. The Parkside Rangers play fellow NSIC school Minnesota Duluth in Duluth, tomorrow night at 5:30 p.m. before returning home to take on the Golden Bears.