ST. PAUL, Minn. – Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball (13-6, 9-6 NSIC) heads on a pivotal NSIC South Division road trip this weekend, facing third place Sioux Falls (13-8, 8-6 NSIC) on Friday at 5:30 p.m. before heading to Marshall, Minnesota to take on Southwest Minnesota State (9-9, 6-8 NSIC) on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
 
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All home games feature the play-by-play broadcasting provided by Dan Flanagan, the voice of the Golden Bears for over a decade. The St. Paul, Minnesota native studied broadcasting at Fordham University (N.Y.) where he was the voice of the Rams' football and basketball teams in the NCAA Division I Patriot League. Learn more about Flanagan on the latest CSP Bears Podcast
 
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NSIC SOUTH STANDINGS: GOLDEN BEARS REMAIN IN THE HUNT
Concordia rebounded against the NSIC North Division in a big way last weekend, taking a pair of games from Northern State and MSU Moorhead while Sioux Falls dropped a pair to NSIC North Division leaders Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State on the road, allowing the Golden Bears to jump back into second place in the NSIC South Division.
 
It's an important distinction as the league schedule returns to NSIC South Division competition heading down the stretch, as the top two teams in each division receive NSIC Sanford Health Tournament First Round byes, while the third and fourth seeded teams will host a first round game on their campus sites.
 
Of course, CSP still remains in the hunt for an NSIC South Division regular season title, trailing Minnesota State (11-4) by two games, but also holding the tiebreaker as the Mavericks will have their winning percentage adjusted by -.022 due to a 1-game nullification.
 
The Golden Bears and Mavericks will each make the same road trip to USF and SMSU this weekend, with the Mustangs (6-8) sitting in sixth in the NSIC South, a half game out of fifth (Augustana, 6-7), two games behind fourth place Winona State (8-8) and two games ahead of seventh place Wayne State (4-10).
 
The NSIC Sanford Health Tournament tips-off with first round games at campus sites on Wednesday, February 23 before the quarterfinals, semifinals and championship will be held at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota from February 26 to March 1 with the tournament champion receiving the NSIC's automatic berth to the NCAA Central Region Tournament.
 
COACH JOHNSON REACHES 100 CAREER WINS
Concordia-St. Paul head coach Amanda Johnson secured 100 career wins, becoming the third coach in program history to reach the milestone following Friday night's 78-70 win over Northern State. She joins her predecessor Paul Fessler (2000-2015), who holds a 326-148 career record and Jack Surridge (1977-89) with a 199-124 career record as the only three coaches to achieve the milestone.
 
Coach Johnson is now 101-71 in her seventh season at the helm of the program, starting in January 2016 during the 2015-16 season. She is currently working on a fourth consecutive winning season with the Golden Bears.
 
NSIC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
The Golden Bears have secured the NSIC South Division Player of the Week honor three times this year as junior point guard Meghan DuBois has earned the honor twice to match a league-high and Lindsey Becher earned the nod once.
 
DuBois is the only player from the NSIC South Division to earn the honor twice this year while the NSIC North has had three repeat selections. No one has earned the honor three times yet this season.
 
Concordia's three team selections leads the NSIC South Division and matches St. Cloud State for a league overall high as the Huskies have three NSIC North Player of the Week selections.
 
11/22 – Meghan DuBois – 13.5 pts, 9.0 reb, 7.0 ast, 2.0 stl
12/20 – Lindsey Becher – 16.0 ppg, 6.5 reb, 6.0 blk, 3.5 ast, 3.0 stl; 21 pts, 11 blk, 8 reb vs SMSU
1/31 – Meghan DuBois (2) – 20.0 ppg, 7.0 ast, 5.0 reb
 
SERIES HISTORY: CSP 12, USF 8
The Golden Bears hold a .600 winning percentage against Sioux Falls dating back to when the Cougars joined the NSIC in 2012-13 with CSP winning the first six meetings. Recently, the Golden Bears have won the last two contests including this year, a 71-51 win at Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul in December.
 
Concordia improved to 7-4 at home against USF, and has split eight road games at USF's Stewart Center where they've dropped their last two trips to USF and haven't won since February 2018.
 
Under head coach Amanda Johnson, Concordia is 6-7 against Sioux Falls overall and 2-3 in road games dating back to January 2016.
 
LAST MEETING, DECEMBER: CSP 71, USF 51
Concordia won its third straight game and seven of eight with a 71-51 win over Sioux Falls in the final game of the 2021 calendar year. CSP would also win coming out of the holiday break for a four-game win streak and a stretch of eight wins in nine games on their way to a 10-2 start to the season.
 
Meghan DuBois and Sydney Zgutowicz led Concordia with 17 points each with DuBois adding five assists, two steals and 6-10 shooting (2-2 3FG) while Zgutowicz added four rebounds, went 6-6 from the stripe and 3-4 from three-point distance.
 
CSP had four players reach double-figures as Jadyn Hanson and Lindsey Becher each had 11 points with Becher adding five rebounds and five assists.
 
CSP had its third-best shooting performance of the year, hitting 44.9 percent (22-49) from the field and 50.0 percent (7-14) from the arc while the defense held USF to 31.0 percent (18-58) shooting to match CSP's second lowest field goal percentage allowed through 11 games.
 
USF was led by former Golden Bear Danielle Schaub with 10 points.
 
ABOUT THE COUGARS
The Cougars opened the New Year by winning three of their first four and five of their first seven games in January, six of those games coming against the NSIC North where USF won four of its first five games in cross-divisional play. Last weekend, the Cougars were tripped on the road against the top-two teams in the Northern Sun, falling at St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth.
 
The Cougars are strong from the arc, where they rank third in the league in three-point percentage (34.0) while also ranking second in the league in both turnover margin (+3.62) and turnovers forced (18.7) per game.
 
Megan Fannin is the lone scorer averaging in double-figures for the Cougars, averaging 14.6 points per game despite 38.1 percent shooting from the floor, buoyed by a 39.1 percent three-point rate where she's connected for 45 three-pointers in 21 games, hitting over two threes per game. Dallie Hoskinson fills the stat sheet, third on the team in scoring (8.7 ppg) while leading the team with 7.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game, also leading the team with 48 steals.
 
SERIES HISTORY: CSP 44, SMSU 17
The Golden Bears continue to hold a firm grip on the all-time series as the teams will meet for the 62^nd time this Saturday. Concordia has won 19 of the last 20 and currently hold a 2-game winning streak.
 
After starting 4-14 against the Mustangs in games played between 1975 and 2002, the Golden Bears have a 40-3 record against SMSU with all three of those losses coming at the R/A Facility in Marshall where SMSU picked up wins in 2005, 2011 and 2021.
 
Since being promoted to head coach in 2016, Amanda Johnson holds a 12-1 record against SMSU and is 6-1 on the road against the Mustangs.
 
LAST MEETING, DECEMBER: CSP 67, SMSU 65
It was a night for the record books for the Golden Bears, paced by second year freshman post Lindsey Becher's school record 11 blocked shots, matching the NCAA DII single-game high as CSP set a program record with 15 team blocks which is an NSIC single game high for the season and one shy of the top mark in DII women's hoops this season.
 
Becher had a big night offensively, as well, scoring 21 points while coming two rebounds shy of a triple-double with eight and adding a pair of assists and steals.
 
The interior defensive dominance led to CSP holding SMSU to 31.4 percent (22-70) shooting and led to CSP controlling the scoring in the paint by a 10-point margin (36-26) which was more than the difference in a 67-65 win.
 
It was Concordia's 23^rd-straight home win over the Mustangs at Gangelhoff Center dating back to January 4, 2002.
 
It was fourth-year sophomore Sydney Zgutowicz who put in the game-winner, attacking the basket for the lay-in with 1.3 seconds to go. She finished with a double-double, scoring 14 points with 10 rebounds while shooting 5-8 from the floor and 4-4 from the stripe.
 
Jadyn Hanson was CSP's third scorer in double-figures with 11 points.
 
SMSU was led by Sam Wall's 19 points off the bench as she delivered 5-6 from the arc and 4-4 from the stripe in an efficient 20 minutes. The rest of the Mustangs combined to shoot 4-23 from three-point distance, though.
 
ABOUT THE MUSTANGS
After a 7-2 overall start to the season, the Mustangs have struggled as of late, dropping three in a row and seven of their last nine games to even the season record at 9-9 overall and 6-8 in the Northern Sun. SMSU's 7-2 start was snapped by the loss at Concordia in December.
 
The Mustangs excel at the free throw line, where they rank third in the conference and 34^th in the country with a 76.3 team free throw percentage in 333 attempts on the year. They're also fifth in the league from the arc, sinking 6.7 threes per game and are fourth in the league defensively, holding opponents to 38.6 shooting from the floor.
 
Individually, Abuk Akoi is on the national map for blocked shots, ranking 20^th in Division II with 2.22 blocks per game, ranking fourth in the Northern Sun.
 
Meleah Reinhart is climbing the charts, ranking ninth in program history with 1,384 career points with a program record 110 career starts.
 
From the arc, Sadie Stelter has made 181 career three-pointers, just nine shy of tying the SMSU career record.
 
CSP TEAM STATS: GOLDEN BEARS AMONG NATION'S BEST IN BLOCKS
The Golden Bear defense has been strong all season, with its best coming from inside where the team is third in the league and 29^th in the country with 4.5 blocked shots per game.
 
The Golden Bears set a school record with 15 blocked shots in the December 17 win over Southwest Minnesota State, the second-most in Division II basketball this year and an NSIC single-game high.
 
BECHER A TOP BLOCKER
Second year freshman forward Lindsey Becher, the 2020-21 NSIC Freshman of the Year, is third in the country with 3.11 blocks per game including an 11-block performance to set a CSP record and falling one block shy of the NSIC record while establishing the top mark in Division II women's basketball.
 
The big performance helped her earn NSIC South Division Player of the Week honors, the second of three of the year for the program, joining Meghan DuBois who has the other two.
 
That weekend before the holiday break, Becher averaged 16.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, 6.0 blocks, 3.5 assists and 3.0 steals as CSP swept a big NSIC weekend from Southwest Minnesota State and Sioux Falls. She was two rebounds shy of a triple-double against the Mustangs, going for 21 points, 11 blocks and eight rebounds before putting up 11 points, five rebounds, five steals and a block the next night against USF.
 
She continued her strong inside play after the New Year, blocking five shots in a road win at #21 Minnesota State while adding 12 points and eight rebounds on January 2. She added four more blocks in a road win the next time out at St. Cloud State, giving her 21 blocks in a four-game stretch of play.
 
She surpassed 100 for her career two weeks ago at UMary and already ranks among the program's top-10 (8^th) with 107 in just 36 career games.
 
She holds the top-two single season blocked shots per game totals, averaging a program record 3.1 this year after averaging 2.8 per game last year in her debut season. Her 59 total blocked shots is the third most in a single season, surpassing Shandrell Duncan's 55 blocks in 2008-09 last weekend and nine shy of Kionda Nicks' 68 blocks in 2014-15 for second, but she is still 45 away from the single season record of 104 set by Kionda Nicks in 2013-14.
 
She leads five players averaging in double-figures with 13.3 points per game while adding 5.6 rebounds per game, one of four players on the team to average least five rebounds per game.

Becher has scored in double-figures in 15 of 19 games and has scored at least eight points in every game this year. She's had four or more blocked shots eight times, had a block in 17 of 19 games and multiple blocks in 12 games.
 
She's had three 20-plus point games, scoring 21 points two times, the first with her 21 points and 11 blocks against SMSU, and the second with 21 points and nine rebounds against Bemidji State.
 
Most recently, Becher had a season-high 22 points and career-high 12 rebounds for her second double-double of the year and first points-rebounds double-double, adding three assists and three blocks in a road win at UMary two weeks ago.
 
She's a career 12.3 scorer with 5.4 rebounds and 109 blocks in 36 games (35 starts), averaging three blocks per game while shooting 47.9 percent from the field and 72.0 percent from the line (95-132).
 
DUBOIS A TOP DISTRIBUTOR
Junior point guard Meghan DuBois leads the Northern Sun with 5.7 assists per game which ranks 12^th in the country, is third in the NSIC in assist-turnover ratio (1.86), is fourth in the league in defensive rebounding (5.4) and fifth in the league in steals (2.37).
 
The point guard can also score, currently second on the team with 12.7 points per game, second on the team with 28 three-pointers at a 34.6 percent clip. She's also second on the team with 5.7 rebounds per game and presides over an offense that has five players scoring in double figures.
 
DuBois has scored at least eight points in 17 of 19 games and reached double figures 14 times. She's had at least three assists in every game and had five or more rebounds 13 times. She's had a steal in 18 of 19 games and multiple steals 12 times.
 
She had her first double-double of the year in the second game of the season, a win over Northern Michigan with 11 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and three steals to secure NSIC Player of the Week honors after scoring 16 points with nine assists and seven rebounds in the season opener earlier in the week.
 
She added her second NSIC Player of the Week honor last weekend, averaging 20.0 points, 7.0 assists and 5.0 rebounds in a pair of wins over Northern State and MSU Moorhead.
 
Defensively, she produced the third-most steals in a single game in Concordia's Division II-era (1999-present) with eight in a win at UMary, adding five assists and seven points in the win.
 
She is durable, having played 40 minutes in a game six times this year and playing at least 30 minutes in all but one game.
 
As a Golden Bear, DuBois has 700 points, 297 rebounds, 277 assists and 131 steals in 80 games (58 starts) while her 2021-22 averages of 12.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 2.4 steals are all career-highs.
 
WHEATCRAFT FOR THREE
Two-time All-NSIC senior guard Riley Wheatcraft is the top perimeter scoring threat in a balanced Golden Bear offensive attack where all five starters average in double figures. She's third on the team in scoring with 12.3 points per game, she's fourth on the team with 5.3 rebounds per game and ranks among the league's best with a 38.1 3 three-point percentage, ranking seventh in the league with 37 three-pointers made on the year.
 
She's the team's top 20-point threat, too, with four 20-point games with a season-high 27 points in the team's road win at NAIA nationally-ranked Southeastern in Florida, also scoring 20 points including four three-pointers in a road win at #21 Minnesota State. She had back-to-back 20-point outings on the road, following up the MSU game with 20 points at St. Cloud State.
 
She's had 11 games scoring in double-figures, collected at least three rebounds in 17 of 19 games and had multiple steals 10 times this year. She's knocked down three or more three-pointers seven times this year, and made at least one three-pointer in 16 of 19 games.
 
She picked up her first double-double of the year with 11 points and 11 rebounds in the loss at Wayne State in December.
 
In her career in 84 games (58 starts), she's scored 912 career points with 336 rebounds, 135 assists, 119 steals and 61 blocked shots while making 145 three-pointers at a 37.7 percent rate. She's averaged in double figures three years in a row while her 5.3 rebounds is a career-best pace this year.
 
She ranks among the program's top-10 for career three-pointers made (t-7^th) and percentage (8^th).
 
ZGUTOWICZ ATTACKS THE GLASS
Sophomore forward Sydney Zgutowicz is the league's second leading rebounder with 8.1 per game and has seven 10-plus rebound games and at least five rebounds in 17 of 19 games on the year.
 
Her 11.1 points and 8.1 rebounds is nearly a double-double per game and she had registered a double-double in three four games from December 11 to January 2, averaging 15.5 points and 9.3 rebounds during CSP's four game winning streak.
 
She is coming off of a 19-point, 11-rebound double-double that included 5-9 shooting and 8-8 free throw shooting most recently in Saturday's win over MSU Moorhead, her fifth double-double of the year.,
 
Her scoring has picked up as the season has progressed, reaching double-digits in points 9 of the last 1 games and five in a row, lifting her season scoring average from 7.8 on December 2 to its current 11.1 average.
 
Now in her third year on the floor and fourth in the program, Zgutowicz has 422 points, 299 rebounds, 93 assists and 49 steals in 58 games (32 starts). She's putting up career-highs in points, rebounds and assists this year.
 
HANSON SCORING THREAT
Third year sophomore guard Jadyn Hanson has scored in double-figures 12 times in 18 games this season including 9 of the last 11 games and four times in a row.
 
She had a career-high of 19 points in the loss at Wayne State. In CSP's win at #21 Minnesota State on January 2, she had 10 points, five assists and the game winning shot in the closing seconds of an 85-83 win to hand MSU its first loss.
 
In 64 career games (18 starts), Hanson has scored 440 points with 158 rebounds, 90 assists and 57 steals.
 
BENCH NOTES: MEGAN GAMBLE
Freshman Megan Gamble has become a stable presence off the bench in her first year as a Golden Bear. She scored 9-plus points three times in a four-game stretch in December including 10 points, four assists and three rebounds in the road win at Augustana where she clocked a season-high 31 minutes.
 
She had her third double-digit scoring effort with 10 points on 3-6 shooting and 4-4 foul shooting, adding three rebounds, a block and a steal in 22 minutes in an 85-83 win at #21 Minnesota State on January 2.
 
She has pulled down at least three rebounds nine times this year. She established a career-high of 11 points and nine rebounds in a home win over Winona State in December and matched the nine rebounds most two weeks ago at Minot State, also grabbing a season-high three steals.
 
On the year, she is averaging 4.0 points, 3.2 rebounds and has 14 steals with eight blocked shots off the bench.
 
BENCH NOTES: SYDNEY SCHULTZ
Fourth year junior Sydney Schultz continues to provide a steady veteran presence, averaging 4.2 points, and 2.3 rebounds in a key reserve role. She's clocked at least 10 minutes in 12 games this year and scored four or more points 10 times with a pair of 10-point performances.
 
Schultz has played 71 career games in four years with 421 points (5.9) and 230 rebounds (3.2) while shooting 56.2 percent (154-274) from the field. Her career field goal percentage ranks sixth in team history.
 
BENCH NOTES: SARAH KUMA
Second year freshman guard Sarah Kuma opened the year in a key reserve role, clocking 24, 12 and 33 minutes while reaching double-figures in scoring twice, scoring 11 points with five rebounds in the season opening win over North Central before notching her first career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds against Minnesota State.
 
She earned her first start of the season in the fourth game, a win at Southeastern (Fla.), but was injured eight minutes into the game after grabbing three rebounds and dishing three assists. She did not return and missed the next seven games before returning for the win at #21 Minnesota State in early January.
 
She returned to the starting lineup on January 15 against Bemidji State, clocking 32 minutes and scoring seven points.
 
In her disrupted season, she is averaging 3.9 points, 2.4 rebounds, has 11 assists and seven steals in 11 games while averaging 13.7 minutes per game.
 
Across her first two years, she has averaged 4.4 points, 2.4 rebounds, has 37 assists and 18 while hitting 38.5 percent from the arc (15-39) and 82.4 percent (14-17) from the stripe in 27 games (two starts).
 
BENCH NOTES: ALYSSA DAUGHERTY
Redshirt freshman Alyssa Daugherty, now in her third year as a Golden Bear, had her top career performance at Augustana. With CSP facing a double-digit second quarter deficit, Daugherty scored a career-high eight points in the quarter to spark a 36-12 stretch of play for the team across the second and third quarters in a road comeback victory.
 
She had a career-high 17 minutes against SMSU with six points (all at the FT line, 6-7) and clocked 11 minutes the next night in a win over Sioux Falls.
 
After missing multiple games, she has returned to the rotation and clocked at least 10 minutes in four straight games and has played at least 10 minutes in the last six games she's appeared in dating back to the USF/SMSU weekend.
 
She's played double-digit minutes seven times this year and has set a new career-high with 27 points on the season.
 
HOT START TO 2021-22
The Golden Bears got out to a 6-1 start to the season, their best seven game start since the 2009-10 team opened the year 10-0 en route to a 26-6 finish and NCAA Central Region Tournament runner-up finish (Sweet Sixteen).
 
The start continued and swelled to 10-2 following the road win at #21 Minnesota State (more below) and is the best start through 12 games since that same 2009-10 squad opened the year 13-1.
 
BIG RANKED WIN
The Golden Bears entered the New Year with their first road win against a WBCA Top-25 team in head coach Amanda Johnson's career, securing an 85-83 win at undefeated #21 Minnesota State on January 2 in Mankato. Coach Johnson holds a 3-11 record against nationally-ranked teams in her career since 2016, winning one on the road, one at home and one at a neutral site.
 
CSP's last win over a ranked team was on November 11, 2017, a neutral floor victory over Harding (Ark.) in Kansas City, Missouri. Coach Johnson is 1-6 against ranked teams on the road, 1-1 against ranked teams at a neutral site and 1-3 against ranked teams at home.
 
This season also includes a win over current #25 Sciences (Pa.), however they were unranked and receiving votes at the time of the game; as well as a win over the #5 team in NAIA on the road against Southeastern (Fla.).