SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball completed an undefeated road trip on Saturday afternoon at Stewart Center as the Golden Bears (7-4, 4-3 NSIC) grinding out a tough 59-49 road win at Sioux Falls (4-9, 1-6 NSIC). It was the third time this season that Concordia has held their opponent to under 50 points.

The Golden Bears opened and closed the game out strong with 10 point point leads both near the start of the second quarter and to finish the game, but were down as many as nine points in the fourth quarter.

Ally Gietzel led the Golden Bears in scoring, putting up 16 points along with four rebounds, three assists. The junior made the most of her damage from the foul line, going 10-12 from the charity stripe.

Sophomore guard Sarah Kuma scored 11 points in the contest putting her back in double digits for the fifth time this season. The North Lakeville North alum added five steals, five rebounds, and four assists in an all-around effort for CSP.

Lindsey Becher was the third Golden Bear in double figures, scoring 10 points while continuing to make her presence felt down low with three blocks. 

Concordia took an early lead after 3-point baskets from Alyssa Daugherty and Jalyn Shaw to go up 11-6. The Bears forced eight turnovers in the quarter, including a steal by Megan Gamble that she pushed up the floor for a fast-break layup by Kuma to close out the first quarter with a 16-10 lead.

The CSP women stretched the lead to 10 after back-to-back baskets from Becher to make the score to 20-10 early in the second quarter. The Cougars started to turn the tables on the Golden Bears, holding them to just four points for the last eight minutes of the half, and cut the CSP lead to 24-21 at the midway point.

The third quarter belonged to the Cougars as they started the half on a 14-3 run, allowing just six shots from CSP, all falling off target. Sioux Falls guard Megan Fannin was the spark for USF, scoring 10 points on 4-of-6 from the field and 2-of-3 from behind the arc during the run. The Bears finished the quarter scoring six of the last eight points, capped off by a Lindsey Becher jumper that brought life to Concordia going into the fourth down four, 37-33. 

The beginning of the quarter did not look promising for CSP after a quick layup and 3-pointer from Sioux Falls gave the Cougars their biggest lead of the game, 42-33 with 8:36 left in the game. Just as USF seemed to have momentum, everything fell apart as the Concordia full-court press started to turn up the pressure, forcing five turnovers to go on a 10-1 run and tie it on a steal and assist from Gamble to Gietzel for the fast-break layup. Gamble would break the tie a few minutes later, pulling a Becher miss and going back up strong for two. A 3-pointer from the Clear Lake native started a 16-6 run to close out the game, with the Golden Bears converting nine of their 10 free throws for a 59-49 victory.  

Concordia forced 28 USF giveaways leading to a 30-14 advantage in points off turnovers and a 21-4 advantage in fast-break points for the Bears. It was a rough shooting day for CSP in the win, going 17-53 from the field (32.1 percent), but made their mark from the foul line converting 22 of their 28 shots (78.6 percent).

Next up for the Golden Bears is a match up with #4 Minnesota State (10-1, 6-1 NSIC) on New Years Eve at 1 p.m. The Maverick's will be coming off their first loss off the season, falling to Southwest Minnesota State 88-85 earlier today.