ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (2-2, 0-1 NSIC) kicks off a packed week of Concordia sports action on Tuesday night, hosting Twin Cities counterpart North Central University (4-2) for their final non-conference matchup of the season. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Gangelhoff Center.
 
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.

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
Concordia-St. Paul defeated the University of Jamestown (6-1) 67-51 on Friday night. The Golden Bears were led by their front court trio of Ally Gietzel, Lindsey Becher, and Megan Gamble who poured in 36 of the Bears 67 points and grabbed 22 of the teams 41 rebounds.

The Concordia offense exploded in the second quarter, shooting 10-of-19 from the field and 4-of-6 from behind the arc. Three-pointers from Alyssa Daugherty and Jalyn Shaw helped CSP get the quarter started on a 10-5 run through the first 4-plus minutes of the quarter, nearly doubling up the Jimmies 30-16. A converted 3-point play by Gamble and four straight points by Sarah Kuma pushed the Golden Bear lead to 19, their largest advantage of the game, before heading into the locker room at halftime up 47-28.

The Golden Bears continued their stifling defense in the fourth quarter, forcing five turnovers and only giving up 10 points to the Jimmies. Lindsey Becher helped close out the game for the CSP, going 4-4 from the foul line while adding two layups to finish the game with a team-high 15 points. Leah Dengerud closed out the scoring for CSP, hitting a 3-pointer for her first collegiate points, making the final score 67-51.

For the game, the Bears held the Jimmies to 14-49 from the field (28.6%) and dominated down low by holding UJ to 20.0% shooting from inside the arc (7-35), out rebounding them 41-34 and holding a 26-10 advantage on second chance points. 

SERIES HISTORY: CSP 13, North Central 1
Concordia and North Central enter the 15th meeting in the all-time series but just the third since CSP moved from the UMAC, where North Central resides, for the NSIC and NCAA Division II ranks in 1999-2000. Located across the river in downtown Minneapolis, North Central will cross over to Concordia for the second year in a row,  falling to the Golden Bears 95-65 in 2021.
 
Concordia has topped 90 points in each of the last four meetings and has never allowed North Central to score more than 72.

LAST MEETING WITH NCU
Concordia-St. Paul opened the 2021-22 season with a 97-65 victory over North Central.

It was the third quarter where Concordia blew the game open, scoring 37 points and hitting 16-of-18 from the field, holding North Central to 4-of-14 shooting while pulling ahead by as many as 28 points.

Senior guard Riley Wheatcraft scored 15 of her game-high 20 points in the third quarter, connecting on three 3-pointers while collecting four steals to spark an 11-0 quarter in fastbreak scoring.

It was key for Concordia as Wheatcraft was held to just four minutes of playing time in the first half after picking up her second foul. She finished the game 8-of-11 from the field and 4-of-7 from three in just 19 minutes of work.

While Wheatcraft was the headline of a high-powered quarter, the Golden Bears finished the night with a balanced team effort in the win, leading by as many as 34 late in the contest.

Adding another strong shooting night for the team was junior guard Jadyn Hanson, making 7-of-11 including a three-pointer for 15 points in 17 minutes. Like Wheatcraft, Hanson also picked up her second foul in the first half, playing eight minutes. Freshman Sarah Kuma stepped up, scoring nine of her 11 points in the first half and securing all five of her rebounds early on while producing a team-best +9 in the first half off the bench.

ABOUT THE RAMS
The Ram's are coming off of their first UMAC conference championship in school history. Defeating the Minnesota-Morris Cougars 52-47 to advance to the NCAA Division III national tournament. The Rams season was ended by University of Wisconsin Eau Claire in their first NCAA tournament game 61-46. 

North Central is off to a 4-2 to start the 2022-23 season under first year head coach Leah Szabla. The Rams are on a three game winning streak over the last two weeks, against NCCAA opponents Central Christian College of the Bible (81-39), Faith Baptist (78-53), and Trinity Bible College (62-54). 

NCU took on Minnesota State in an exhibition game earlier in November, falling to the Mavericks 110-42. Against Division III opponents the Rams are 1-2 with a win over Alverno College (65-33) sandwiched between losses to Central College (78-64) and Buena Vista University (70-68).

North Central is averaging 69.7 points per game while giving up just 54.5 points to opponents. They have shot 36.9 percent from the field and 24.8 from three in their six games. The ball has been loose for both sides in the Rams games this season with NCU averaging 17.2 steals per game, but giving their opponents the ball on average 17.5 times per game on turnovers. 

NCU's player to watch is guard Joelle Talso. The junior has averaged 14.7 points so far this season, to go along with 6.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 3.5 steals. Talso was an All-UMAC Honorable Mention in 2021-22.