ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (5-2, 2-1 NSIC) host their first back-to-back home conference games of the season this week, taking on Wayne State (6-1, 2-1 NSIC) Friday night at 5:30 p.m., before welcoming Augustana (7-1, 2-1 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon at 3:30. Both teams are ranked in the top10 in this week's D2SIDA Central Region poll with Augustana ranked at #6 and Wayne State tied at #10 in the region.
 
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
The Golden Bear women are coming off an undefeated week of games with wins over North Central (80-40), Upper Iowa (71-62), and Winona State (58-39). 

The Golden Bears wrapped up their non-conference schedule on Tuesday, defeating North Central (5-3) by 40, giving CSP momentum going into the bulk of NSIC games ahead. 

Jalyn Shaw finished with 15 points off the bench to take the top scoring spot for Concordia with an impressive night from long range, knocking down 5-of-7 from behind the arc. Ally Gietzel finished in double figures for the third game in a row, putting 10 points on the board to go along with three rebounds and two assists. 

Sarah Kuma set the tone for the Golden Bears throughout the beginning of the game, scoring eight points, leading the team in assists with four, and adding five rebounds. She also picked up a career high seven steals, which tied her for sixth most in a single game in school history.

The Concordia women picked up their first Northern Sun win of 2022-23 with a 71-62 victory at Upper Iowa (4-4, 0-3 NSIC) on Thursday night in Fayette, Iowa. On the day, the Golden Bears shot 41.1 percent (24-58) from the field and 65.5 percent from the foul line, where they spent plenty of the afternoon with 29 attempts (19-29). Upper Iowa shot an identical 41.1 percent (24-58) from the field, but were kept off the foul line, shooting just 12 total, going 9-12. 

Sarah Kuma had a strong day for CSP, finishing with a career-high 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting (54.5 percent) with five rebounds and a block. Ally Gietzel tied Kuma with 19 points for her best scoring output of the season and tied Jalyn Shaw with a team-high seven rebounds..

The Bears showed their depth as five players were able to score off the bench, led by nine points from Shaw. Leah Dengerud hit both of her shots in the game, including a 3-pointer to start Concordia's big fourth quarter. The freshman also added a block and a steal on the defensive end of the ball.

The Golden Bears capped off the week defeating Winona State (7-2, 1-2 NSIC) 58-39 in the early game on Saturday afternoon at Gangelhoff Center. The 39 points was the fewest allowed by CSP since 2015 and the fewest points allowed to a NSIC opponent since 2014 when the Golden Bears held Northern State to 36 in the 2013-14 NSIC Championship. It was also the lowest point total by Winona State in their history with Concordia.

The Concordia women were led in scoring by Sarah Kuma for the second game in a row and third game of the season. The sophomore guard put 16 on the board to go with two steals and two rebounds. Kuma was 6-of-11 (54.5 percent) from the field and went 2-of-4 from beyond the arc.

Center Lindsey Becher finished the game with three blocks to move her into second in career blocked shots in school history. Becher entered the day tied with Jill Kalvik (2000-04) with 145 blocks before picking up her three to move into second place with 148. Becher scored in double digits for the fourth time this season while grabbing a team-high eight rebounds.  

SERIES HISTORY: CSP 25, WAYNE STATE 24
The Golden Bears and Wildcats will meet for the 50th time since the 1999-00 season with Concordia holding the slight upper hand in the series 25-24 splitting games with WSC during the 2021-22 season. Wayne State snapped a three game home losing streak to CSP in their first matchup last season picking up the win 75-71.

Head coach Amanda Johnson is 7-7 against the Wildcats dating back to January of 2016 and is 4-3 at WSC's Rice Auditorium.

LAST MEETING WITH WSC
Trailing by double-digits in the fourth quarter, Concordia-St. Paul outscored Wayne State 27-12 in the final nine minutes of play to secure a 76-71 win at Gangelhoff Center. The victory clinched a first round bye in the 2021-22 NSIC Conference Tournament.

In Concordia's comeback win, the Golden Bears finished the game red-hot from the floor, making 8-of-13 led by freshman forward Lindsey Becher's 12 points down the stretch as she finished the game with 20 points on just 11 shots (7-11), adding five rebounds, four blocked shots while drawing six fouls with her inside presence. 

Sydney Zgutowicz had a big night, scoring 14 points while adding a career-high 16 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the year while Jadyn Hanson had a career-high eight assists including four in a row during the pivotal fourth quarter run. Hanson led all players in the contest with a +15 in 33 minutes, and Zgutowicz dished two of her assists during the fourth quarter run, as well.

The two teams shot similar percentages from the floor, with CSP making 26-63 to WSC's 26-64, but the Golden Bears hit 10 three-pointers (10-28) to WSC's seven (7-20) and despite shooting nearly 30 percent less than Wayne State, still outscored the Wildcats by two (14-12) at the stripe.

The big difference in the game came in the turnover differential, with CSP committing just eight turnovers against a Wildcat squad that entered the night forcing 16.7 per game, third-best in the NSIC. The Golden Bears kept the Wildcats true to their own ball-handling misfortunes, too, as the league's most turnover-prone squad entering the weekend (17.0) committed 16 against CSP.

ABOUT THE WILDCATS
Wayne State entered the season picked to finish 13th in the conference and sixth in the south division after a 9-15 season in 2021-22, going 6-14 in conference play. WSC is led by fifth year head coach Brent Pollari. The Wildcats are 5-3 against the Golden Bears since he took over in 2018. 

The Wildcats are off to a 6-1 to start the 2022-23 season and enter the week on a four game winning streak. They are 2-1 in the NSIC, falling to Augustana 93-74 before winning back to back NSIC games against Sioux Falls (71-55) and Southwest Minnesota State (72-62).

Wayne State is averaging 78.9 points per game which is fourth in the NSIC, while their defense ranks 14th, giving up an average of 70 points to opponents. Committing turnovers and forcing turnovers have been the Wildcats calling card for the past few years and have continued that trend by forcing an average of 22.6 turnovers per game while giving it back to opponents 17.4 times per game. WSC has capitalized on their takeaways, averaging 24.6 points off turnovers in their seven games.

Wayne State's player to watch is Lauren Zacharias. The senior point guard has averaged 18.4 points so far this season (Tied for second in the NSIC), to go along with 5.0 rebounds, 2.6 assists. She exploded for 37 points against Fort Lewis College, shooting an incredible 12-of-18 from the floor, 7-of-10 from beyond the arc, and nailing all six shots from the foul line.

SERIES HISTORY: AUGIE 19, CSP 15
The Golden Bears and Vikings enter their 36th meeting dating back to 1994-95 with the Vikings leading the series 19-16, although the Golden Bears have won three of the last four including both matchups in 2021-22. Since Augustana joined the NSIC in 2008-09, the series has been tied up at 15 games apiece in 30 meetings.

The biggest split is in home/away, where Concordia is 10-5 against the Vikings at Gangelhoff Center and 4-11 at Augustana where CSP secured a 73-71 win early in the 2021-22 season.
 
Since Amanda Johnson was named head coach in January of 2016, Concordia is 6-7 overall and 4-3 in home games.

LAST MEETING WITH AUGUSTANA
Concordia-St. Paul's last matchup with the Vikings came during the homestretch of the NSIC playoff race. Freshman forward Megan Gamble was the hero in the game finishing in the lane with a spin move layup with four seconds to play to take a one point lead. Freshman forward Lindsey Becher sealed the game by blocking Augustana's layup in the closing seconds to secure a 65-64 victory at Gangelhoff Center.

Concordia trailed by eight, 64-56 following an Augustana three-pointer with 2:42 to play before the Golden Bears surged down the stretch with a 9-0 scoring run to win the game.

During the run, which opened with a Jadyn Hanson three-pointer on a feed from Becher, sophomore forward Sydney Zgutowicz added four straight free throws before Gamble's spin move in the lane to close it. Concordia's defense held Augustana to 0-3 shooting from the field and 0-2 from three while forcing two turnovers down the stretch.

Becher finished with 14 points, adding a team-high eight rebounds and six blocked shots including the game-ending swat on Augie post Aislin Duffy on an inbounds play lobbed under the basket for the contest game-winning attempt.

Gamble, who had the game-winner, finished with six points on 3-6 shooting, adding four rebounds, three assists and a steal in 23 minutes off the bench including significant minutes down the stretch.

ABOUT THE VIKINGS
Augustana entered the season ranked 3rd in the NSIC in the preseason conference poll and enter this week ranked #6 in the Central Region by the D2SIDA poll with a record of 7-1. Their biggest win so far came in their season opener when they upset preseason #3 Fort Hays State 62-59.

They are 2-1 in the conference with wins against Wayne State (93-74) and Sioux Falls (87-52). Their only defeat of the year came this past Thursday with a blowout loss to Southwest Minnesota State 94-60, knocking them out of the WBCA Top 25, where they had been previously ranked #24 in the nation. The Vikings will face their second top-10 ranked team this season on Friday when they host sixth ranked Minnesota State (7-0, 3-0 NSIC). 

The Augie women has been hot on offense this season averaging 79.1 points a game, third best in the NSIC, and are second in the conference in average scoring margin at 15.4. The Vikings lead the conference in field goal percentage at 47.0  and 3-point percentage at 33.8. 

The NSIC Preseason Player of the Year, Aislinn Duffy, is Augustana's player to watch this week as she enters the game tied for second in scoring with Wayne State's Lauren Zacharias with 18.4 points per game. Duffy also has averaged 8.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists. Her biggest scoring output this season came against Missouri Western, when she scored 33 points to go along with seven rebounds and four assists. Duffy was the only player in the NSIC to average a double-double for the 2021-22 season while collecting 12 double-doubles in total last year and has already picked up three in 2022-23 in just seven games.