ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (1-1, 0-0 NSIC) opens up NSIC play on Tuesday night at #11 Minnesota State (3-0, 0-0 NSIC) before returning home for a non-conference matchup with Jamestown (5-1) on Friday.
BUY TICKETS TO HOME GAMES ONLINE
Fans are encouraged to buy tickets in advance and bring your QR code to the gates to skip the line! Friends and families who utilize the pass list will also be utilizing the online ticketing service while all students, faculty & staff will access their free CSP tickets through the service. Fans do not need to create a login, remember a username or password or download an app to purchase tickets, and tickets can still be purchased with cash at the gates. Find out more in the partnership announcement between CSP Athletics and HomeTown Ticketing.
BUY TICKETS ONLINE FOR TUESDAY'S CONFERENCE OPENER
All fans planning on attending Tuesday night's NSIC season opener at Minnesota State are also encouraged to purchase tickets in advance. Golden Bear fans can skip the line and buy their tickets ahead of time at www.msumavericks.com/singlegame.
WATCH ONLINE – NSIC NETWORK
All Golden Bear NSIC men's and women's basketball games will be available to watch online, free of charge, powered by the NSIC Network, supported by BlueFrame Technology. Visit nsicnetwork.com/cspbears on a laptop or desktop computer, download the NSIC Network app on your mobile device or watch on your supported OTT provider such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV. Search "NSIC Network" and download the app for the league's full sport and team lineups.
NSIC NETWORK FAQ
DOWNLOAD THE APP
Fans can download the CSP Bears fan app, free of charge and available in the App Store or on Google Play. The app contains rosters, schedules, scores, stats, news, social media and more! Customize your options to get notifications to your favorite teams, as well. Search "CSP Bears" in the app store to stay up-to-date on Golden Bear athletics.
LAST TIME OUT
The Concordia women split a pair of non-conference games last week to GLIAC opponents, falling to Michigan Tech 64-54 on Tuesday before rebounding on Saturday with a win over Parkside University.
On Tuesday, the Golden Bears went back and forth with MTU in the first quarter finishing with a two point deficit at the quarter break, 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 Sarah 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.
Friday's contest against Parkside featured two ties and eight lead changes with Parkside holding the upper hand in the first quarter with an 18-9 lead. Concordia used a 14-4 spurt to start the second quarter, turning a 21-15 deficit into a 29-25 lead midway through. The game remained tight, neither team able to secure separation with CSP holding a 1-point lead (34-33) at the break.
In the third quarter, Concordia was able to pull away with a 28-20 margin built on an extended 15-7 stretch of play to take the game's first double-digit lead with a 59-48 advantage late in the third quarter.
The Rangers trimmed the margin back to six with 20 seconds to play in the quarter, but a three pointer by sophomore guard Sarah Kuma at the horn gave Concordia a 9-point advantage (62-53) heading into the final frame. The Golden Bears would lead for the entire second half and walk out of Kenosha, Wis., with a 74-64 victory.
MINNESOTA STATE SERIES HISTORY
Tuesday marks the 46th meeting between CSP and MSU with the Golden Bears holding a one game advantage 23-22 over the Mavericks in the tightly contested series that dates back to the 1974-75 season.
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 MSU joined the NSIC in the 2008-09 season, Concordia is 13-15 in Northern Sun league games against the Mavericks and 2-0 in NSIC Tournament matchups.
Head coach Amanda Johnson carries a 7-6 record against MSU since she was promoted to head coach in January of 2016 and holds a 3-4 road record against the Mavericks.
LAST MEETING WITH THE MAVERICKS
Back on Jan. 2, the Golden Bears upset previously undefeated #21 Minnesota State 85-83 on a game winning shot from guard Jadyn Hanson on the Mavericks home court.
It marked head coach Amanda Johnson's first career road win against a WBCA Division II nationally-ranked opponent and avenged the 84-74 home loss against MSU in their first matchup of the 2021-22 season.
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.
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 MSU star Joey Batt in check. Megan 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.
JAMESTOWN SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears have been consistent in their contests with the Jimmies since their first meeting in 2013 and hold an all-time series record of 6-0 against UJ. All seven matchups between Concordia and Jamestown have been held at the Gangelhoff Center during the last week of November. The most memorable game of the series came back in 2015, when the CSP women pulled out the 93-91 win in overtime.
LAST MEETING WITH THE JIMMIES
The Golden Bears were hot when they hit the floor in their last matchup in 2019, dominating the scoreboard 20-10 after the first ten minutes. Jamestown could not get shots up against the Bears defense and only shot 9.1% from the field in the first quarter which included the first made layup of the game. The rest of the Jimmies eight points came from free throws after CSP committed nine fouls towards UJ.
Jamestown came out with more energy in the second quarter and increased their shooting percentage to 56.3% but CSP responded with the same intensity. Outscoring the Jimmies by only one point in the second quarter, the Bears shot 64.7% from the field and 71.4% from the three-point line. Danielle Schaub was the major contributor in the second quarter as she put up her first 11 points of the game with three three-pointers and two layups. Cassidy Byrd also drowned the threes as she scored eight points and grabbed four rebounds. The duo's efficiency from the field kept the Bears ahead 47-36 at the half.
The third quarter shifted the other way for a little under five minutes when the Jimmies went on a 7-0 run to close the gap on the scoreboard. With nine seconds to go in the third, Jamestown forward Noelle Josephson snagged the defensive rebound off a Golden Bear's missed three-pointer and threw it up the court for the fast break layup at the buzzer from UJ guard Hannah DeMars. The layup gave the Jimmies the advantage going into the final ten minutes of the game as they led 60-59.
It was a free-throw competition in the fourth quarter as CSP had 15 single point opportunities at the line and UJ had ten. Overall, the Golden Bears had 28 team fouls and four players in foul trouble by the time the game ended. The CSP women would erase the Jimmies hope of success with a 17-4 run to close out the game to seal a 86-73 victory.
