ST. PAUL, Minn. – Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball (7-4, 4-3 NSIC) close out 2022 on New Year's Eve with a rematch against #7 Minnesota State (10-1, 6-1 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon (1 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.

GOLDEN BEARS EARLY SEASON RECAP
The Concordia women are off to a 7-4 start and are currently fifth in the NSIC South standings with an NSIC record of 4-3. The Bears are coming off back-to-back road wins against Southwest Minnesota State (8-4, 5-2 NSIC), and Sioux Falls (4-9, 1-6 NSIC). 

Ally Gietzel was the top performer for the Golden Bears in the two games, averaging 15.5 points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals. She scored 15 points against SMSU, including the game winning layup with 22 seconds left, with six rebounds, three assists, three steals, and two blocks against SMSU. She led CSP in scoring in both wins  She shot 72.2% from the foul line for the week(13-18), including 10-12 from the stripe against Sioux Falls. 

Gietzel has been the top scorer for the Golden Bears, averaging 11.5 points per game and is ninth in the NSIC in total rebounds with 73. The junior wing has scored in double figures in eight of the last nine games with a season high 19 points against Upper Iowa.

Lindsey Becher has been the number one shot-blocker in the country this year, rejecting 31 shots to lead the NSIC and NCAA Division II. The sophomore center has averaged 2.8 blocks per game in 2022 with a season high of six blocks against Parkside University. Becher's five blocks against SMSU is currently the most so far this season for a NSIC game. 

Rounding out the top three players for CSP so far is sophomore guard Sarah Kuma. Kuma is second on the Bears in scoring, averaging 10.2 points per game, including a season high 19 points against Upper Iowa to match Gietzel's total in the game. She shot 41.6 percent from the floor (37-89), 34.4 percent from behind the arc (11-32), and 71.1 percent from the free throw line. Kuma has the third most steals in the conference with 27.

Concordia's defense has been the best aspect of their game this year, giving up an average of 60.5 points per game, which is sixth best in the conference. The Bears have held opponents to under 50 points three times this season, including two against division opponents Winona State and Sioux Falls. The CSP's 68 blocked shots lead the conference and tie them with UVA Wise for second most in the country, just one behind the other Golden Bears in Division II: Kutztown University.
 
SERIES HISTORY: CSP 23, MSU 23
After the Mavericks evened the all-time series at 23 apiece in November, the teams will look to break the deadlock in the 47th all-time matchup between the programs in a series that dates back to the 1974-75 season when MSU won the first six games (then known as Mankato State) between the 1974-75 and 1999-2000 seasons when CSP was known as the Concordia College Comets and members of the NAIA and Upper Midwest Athletic Conference.
 
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 then, the series has been back-and-forth, with the Mavericks leveling the ledger in November.
 
Head coach Amanda Johnson carries a 7-7 record against MSU since she was promoted to head coach in January of 2016 and holds a 5-2 home record against the Mavericks.
 
Since MSU joined the NSIC in the 2008-09 season, Concordia is 12-16 in Northern Sun league games against the Mavericks and 2-0 in NSIC Tournament matchups, both road wins in 2009 and in 2010.
 
LAST MEETING, 2021-22: #11 MSU 91, CSP 61
Concordia-St. Paul fell on the road to #11 Minnesota State 91-61 in their first conference game of the season back on November 22.
 
The Golden Bears' cold shooting to start the game allowed MSU to jump out to a 21-9 lead after the first quarter. The CSP women could not get shots to drop in the opening period, shooting 2-17 from the field and 0-6 from three. Concordia shot better in the second quarter, but were bitten by the turnover bug, giving the ball away 12 times in the frame. The Mavericks continued to protect the 3-point line in the second quarter, allowing only two shots from behind the arc, both falling off target, and entered the half with a 43-23 lead.
 
The Golden Bears started to find an offensive rhythm in the third quarter, going 3-5 from three on the way to 21 points in the quarter, their highest in the game and cut the margin to 16 points, 53-37 midway through the quarter. Minnesota State staved off any hope that CSP tried to build with an impressive offensive quarter of their own. The Mavericks shot 11-17 from the field, 2-2 from three and hit all six of their shots from the foul line to extend their lead to 29 at the end of the third quarter, 73-44

The Bears launched 10 threes in the fourth quarter, connecting on four, in an effort to make the comeback. The Minnesota State bench held the lead throughout the final period, pushing the deficit to 30 by the end, taking their first conference win of the season and dropping Concordia to 0-1 in NSIC play, 91-61.
 
The Concordia women were led in scoring by Jadyn Hanson. The junior scored her season high of 16 points in the game, shooting 4-6 from behind the arc, to go along with three steals. Gietzel joined her in double digit scoring with 10 points while grabbing a team high eight rebounds.

Destinee Bursch was the top performer for Minnesota State, scoring 14 points, shooting an efficient 70% from the field. She also added four assists, three steals, and three rebounds in a well balanced performance. Batt finished with just eight points, but was active outside of scoring the basketball, dishing out five assists and grabbing five steals.
 
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS
Since their first matchup in Mankato, the Mavericks have continued to play at a high level, winning their next six games by an average of 24.8 points. MSU entered their final game before Christmas Break at 10-0 and ranked fourth in the country, but were upset by Southwest Minnesota State 88-85 for their first loss on the season. 
 
The Mavericks are fourth in the nation in scoring 86.1 points per game and are fifth in the country in average scoring margin of +24.6. MSU's aggressive defense ranks second in NCAA Division II in steals per game (16.6) and fourth in turnover margin (11.55). The Mavericks lead the conference on the boards, averaging 41.5 rebounds per game.

Minnesota State has three players with a higher scoring average than Concordia's leading scorer, with 2021-22 First Team All-Conference guard Joey Batt headlining that group. Batt enters the game as the NSIC's second leading scorer, averaging 18.4 points per game on 51 percent shooting from the field, 31.4 percent on 3-pointers, and 82 percent from the foul line. Batt leads the conference and is second in the country with 3.5 steals per game. The junior is coming off of her second 30 point game of the season, scoring 32 points to go with five steals and five blocks in the Maverick's loss to SMSU.

Destenee Bursch and Natalie Bremer round out MSU's top three players with Bursch averaging 15.4 points per game and Bremer averaging 14.1, seventh and sixteenth best in the conference respectively. Bursch, 2021-22 NSIC Freshman of the Year, is seventh in the conference in scoring while averaging 2.7 assists and 2.2 steals per game, Bremer has been making her case for 2022-23 Freshman of the Year honors as the first year enters 2023 as the NSIC's 16th leading scorer and is fourth in the conference in steals with 25.