SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Second seed Concordia-St. Paul (19-7) from the NSIC South scored the first 16 points on the night and never looked back in defeating NSIC North third seed Bemidji State (14-13) 85-58 on Sunday evening in the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament quarterfinals played at the Sanford Pentagon.
Fourth year junior All-NSIC Second Team point guard
Meghan DuBois was clutch for Concordia, scoring 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting, hitting 2-of-3 from the arc and 4-of-5 from the foul line while adding nine assists, zero turnovers, and six rebounds.
Concordia advances to the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament semifinals on Monday, February 28 to face #13 and NSIC North top seed #13 St. Cloud State (22-3) at 4:30 p.m. The winner advances to the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament championship on Tuesday, March 1 at 7 p.m.
The big early game run was sparked by fourth year sophomore All-NSIC Second Team forward
Sydney Zgutowicz, who scored eight points in the first four minutes of play, knocking down a pair of three-pointers. She finished the game with 13 points and five rebounds, adding 3-4 three-point shooting.
Three-point shooting was a factor all night, as Concordia knocked down 10-of-16, a 62.5 percent clip on the Sanford Pentagon nets, and also converted 91.7 percent (11-12) at the foul line. They played as effectively defensively at the arc as they did offensively, locking down the Beavers to 24.0 percent (6-25) three-point shooting and 33.8 percent (23-68) from the arc. The Golden Bears also took care of the ball, committing just nine turnovers on the evening.
Concordia led by as many as 17 in the first quarter, ripping off a 20-3 start, and extended the margin in the second frame, leading 45-20 midway through the quarter before entering the break ahead 49-27.
In the first half, the Golden Bears only committed three turnovers and hit 6-9 from three to build the big lead.
Bemidji State showed signs of a comeback early in the third quarter, scoring the first eight points as part of a 10-0 run in the first two minutes of the quarter to cut the margin to 14 points, 49-35.
The Golden Bears responded with all five starters scoring 14 straight points starting in the paint from second year freshman All-NSIC post
Lindsey Becher, followed by back-to-back three-pointers by sophomores
Jadyn Hanson and Zgutowicz and jumpers by DuBois and two-time All-NSIC senior guard
Riley Wheatcraft. DuBois followed with another jumper for a 63-35 lead with 4:09 to play in the third quarter, putting the game out of reach at 28 points.
In only 18 minutes of action, Becher contributed an efficient 13 points on 5-7 shooting with 3-3 at the stripe, adding three rebounds and two blocked shots. Wheatcraft had 10 points including a pair of three-pointers (2-3), two steals, two blocks, two assists and four rebounds and Hanson had nine points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Concordia led by as many as 31 points while the Golden Bear bench went to work in the fourth quarter as CSP's reserves outscored Bemidji State's 30-20 on the night.
Alyssa Daugherty led the bench with eight points on 3-5 shooting including 2-2 from the arc while
Sydney Schultz added six points and
Megan Gamble pulled down seven rebounds.
Bemidji State was led by Trinity Yoder's 20 points, six rebounds and four assists while CSP held All-NSIC center Rachel Heittola to seven points on 3-11 shooting. Earlier this year, CSP held Heittola to nine points on 2-10 shooting in BSU's win over CSP at the Gangelhoff Center.
