ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (3-2, 0-1 NSIC) play their first consecutive conference games of the season this week, taking on Upper Iowa (4-2, 0-1 NSIC) in Fayette, Iowa, before returning to St. Paul on Saturday for their first home conference game of the season against Winona State (7-0, 0-1 NSIC). Thursday's women's game is at 5:30 p.m. and tip-off for Saturday is set for 1 p.m.
 
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.

SERIES HISTORY: CSP 30, UPPER IOWA 5
Concordia holds a firm grip on the series, winning 30 of the first 35 meetings dating back to the 2004-05 season as UIU was looking to join the NSIC, which they did for the 2006-07 campaign. CSP won the first 13 contests between the programs and is currently on a five game win streak against the Peacocks.
 
In 18 games played at Upper Iowa's Dorman Gymnasium, the Golden Bears are 15-3 and 6-2 under head coach Amanda Johnson in eight contests. UIU's last win against Concordia was December 13, 2019, when they handed the CSP women a 65-63 to break a 49-game losing streak. 
 
Johnson's Golden Bears hold a 11-2 record against the Peacocks since 2016.

LAST MEETING WITH UIU
Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball picked up a fourth quarter comeback in their regular season finale at Gangelhoff Center, outscoring Upper Iowa 18-4 in the last four and half minutes of play in a 70-64 win on senior day. 

Concordia faced its largest deficit, 58-49 with 5:39 to play in the game. Just over a minute later, freshman forward Lindsey Becher's jumper started the 18-4 scoring run to close out the contest.

The Golden Bears hit 3-5 from the field and 1-2 from three down the stretch, but they did their most damage at the foul line, where they converted 9-of-13 in crunch time while limiting UIU to 2-10 shooting, 0-3 from the arc and kept the Peacocks off the free throw line.

Becher led the Golden Bears with 25 points and 12 rebounds, her third double-double and third 20/10 game of the year. She was 8-16 from the field and 9-12 at the stripe, adding five steals and two blocked shots.

The Golden Bears survived on a night when they shot just 31.0 percent (18-58) from the field, a figure boosted by their efficient fourth quarter in which they shot 46.2 percent (6-13).

The defense once again stifled the opposition, holding Upper Iowa to 30.9 percent (21-68) including 14.3 percent (3-21) from three.

The Peacocks were led by Lydia Haack's 17 points despite being held to 5-18 shooting as she made 7-8 from the line, adding five rebounds and four assists. Savannah Domeyer was the only other Peacock in double-figures with 10 points and six rebounds (five offensive) off the bench.

ABOUT THE PEACOCKS
Upper Iowa entered the season picked to finish 15th in the conference after a 7-19 season in 2021-22, going 4-16 in conference play. UIU is led by first year head coach Justin Maass. 

Maass spent the last four years with the Morehead State University women's basketball program including three years as an assistant with the NCAA Division I Eagles in Morehead, Kentucky. 

The Peacocks are off to a 4-2 to start the 2022-23 season, winning their first four before dropping the last two. They are 0-1 in the NSIC, falling to the Winona State Warriors in their most recent game 78-45. 

Upper Iowa is averaging 72.8 points per game, slightly higher than their opponents average of 71.3. They have shot 43.9 percent from the field and 35.6 from three in their six games. UIU has struggled at the free throw line so far this season, shooting just 67.8 percent.

Upper Iowa's player to watch is Lydia Haack. The junior guard has averaged 19.3 points so far this season (Third in the NSIC), to go along with 5.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists. Haack was named NSIC South Division Player of the Week earlier in November after averaging 26.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 3.0 steals and 2.0 assists in wins over Southern Arkansas (86-74) and Arkansas-Monticello (74-59).

SERIES HISTORY: CSP 37, WINONA STATE 20
Concordia-St. Paul and Winona State will meet for the 66th time this Thursday with the Golden Bears controlling a 37-20 series history between the programs dating back to 1977. The two teams met 10 times prior to Concordia's move from NAIA to NCAA Division II in 1999-00 with Concordia holding a 6-4 record in those games. After the Warriors topped CSP to sweep the Golden Bears' debut season in the NSIC in 1999-00, Concordia rattled off 12 wins in a row and won 19 of 20 between 2000-01 and 2010-11.
 
In recent years, Concordia has dominated Winona State, winning seven of the last eight. At home, Concordia is 16-7 all-time against the Warriors with wins in six of the last seven meetings at Gangelhoff Center dating back to December 10, 2016.
 
Under head coach Amanda Johnson (2016-present), Concordia is 9-6 with the Warriors defeating Johnson's CSP squad in four of the first five meetings before CSP flipped the results in recent years. Johnson is 6-1 against WSU at home.

LAST MEETING WITH WSU
Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball outlasted Winona State 50-47 at McCown Gymnasium, picking up their third-straight win and securing the second seed from the South Division in the NSIC Sanford Health Basketball Tournament.

Second year freshman forward Lindsey Becher led Concordia with 15 points and added eight rebounds and a blocked shot while fourth year sophomore forward Sydney Zgutowicz had her seventh double-double of the year with 14 points and 12 rebounds, shooting 5-9 from the field.
Midway through the third quarter, with Concordia trailing 30-25, the Golden Bears surged ahead behind six straight points from Becher and a pair of late third quarter field goals by Zgutowicz during an 8-1 run to take a 33-31 lead into the fourth.

The Warriors responded with back-to-back three-pointers to open the fourth quarter, reclaiming a 4-point advantage.

But Concordia came back with another mini-spurt, scoring the next seven points with five coming from Zgutowicz while the defense held WSU to 0-5 shooting and forced a pair of turnovers during a nearly four minute stretch of play for a 42-39 lead with 4:12 remaining.

Not only did Concordia hold its lead the rest of the way, but CSP protected its margin by not allowing WSU to gain possessions with a chance to tie or take the lead down the stretch.

The Warriors were led by Emily Kieck's 14 points including three three-pointers, five rebounds, four assists and three steals.

ABOUT THE WARRIORS
Winona State entered the season ranked 11th in the NSIC in the preseason conference poll and entered this week undefeated at 7-0. The Warriors are currently tied for eighth in the country in scoring defense, giving up just 50.8 points per game. They are 1-0 in the conference after defeating Upper Iowa 78-45 in their conference opener.

The Warriors will face their first ranked team of the season on Thursday when they host Minnesota State. The Mavericks moved up to number six in this week's WBCA rankings and are bringing the tenth ranked scoring offense into the matchup of undefeated teams.

WSU has been stingy on defense, forcing opponents out of their comfort zone and keeping them to just 30.8 percent shooting from the field and 18.8 from behind the arc. On the other side of the ball the Warriors are sixth in the NSIC in points per game with 70.8. They lead the conference in field goal percentage at 47.9 and are second in 3-point percentage at 37.6. 

Alex Dornfeld is Winona State's player to watch this week as she enters the game averaging a double-double with 16.8 points (Seventh in the NSIC) and 11 rebounds (First in the NSIC).