ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (9-10, 6-9 NSIC) picked up a home victory Friday night, defeating the Minot State Beavers (9-12, 5-10 NSIC) 71-61. With the win, the Golden Bears move into a tie with Wayne State for fourth place in the NSIC South 

The Beavers got off to a quick 8-2 lead before the Bears began to answer, but Ally Gietzel and Leah Dengerud kept it close going into the second quarter, combining for all 12 of CSP's first quarter points. Minot shooting kept them ahead by three at the end of the first quarter, 15-12.

The switch flipped on for the Golden Bears in the second quarter, shooting 64.3-percent from the field (9-14) and forcing five Beaver turnovers on the defensive end. A converted 3-point play by Jadyn Hanson in the middle of a 14-2 Concordia run would give CSP their first lead of the game (22-21). After a made Beaver jump shot by Natasha Elliot put an end to the run, Raegen Alexander would close out the first half, scoring on a pull up jump shot and a stepback 3-pointer, to put the Golden Bears up by 10 going into the half, 33-23.

Alexander kept it going, scoring just eight seconds into the second half, but the third quarter belonged to Gietzel. The junior wing scored 11 points in the quarter, including seven in a row during a 9-0 CSP run. The Golden Bears were just 1-of-9 on 3-point attempts, but 7-of-8 inside the arc, building their lead to 15 by the end of the quarter to head into the final period up 51-36.

The Beavers made a valiant comeback attempt in the fourth quarter, out-scoring Concordia 25-20 in the fourth, coming as close as four points late in the game. Minot guard Kate Head scored nine of her team high 22 points in the fourth quarter, and forced several key turnovers to keep the game close. In the end, the Golden Bears would knock down their free throws (9-of-12) to finish with the 71-61 victory.

Gietzel finished with a career high 27 points, while grabbing eight boards and dishing out four assists. She was an efficient 10-of-17 from the field, including 1-of-3 from deep, while knocking down all six of her free throw attempts.

Leah Dengerud tied her career high in scoring, posting 14 points with five rebounds, two steals, and a block. The freshman continues to develop and has stepped up into a major role in both the Concordia offense scoring in double digits for the third game in a row. 

Raegan Alexander was the third Golden Bear in double-digits, scoring 11 points while shooting  71.4-percent from the field (5-of-7), to go along with six rebounds, an assist, block, and a steal. Jalyn Shaw was the team leader in rebounds pulling down 10 boards and Jadyn Hanson finished with a team-high five assists. 

As a team the Golden Bears shot 48.1-percent from the field (26-of-54), but struggled from behind the arc going just 4-of-22 (18.2-percent). Concordia out-rebounded the Beavers 44-30 and out-scored them in the paint 36-28. Minot State pressured the Bears all night forcing 18 CSP turnovers and collected 11 steals, but were only able to convert those takeaways into eight points. 

The Golden Bears are back on the court tomorrow against University of Mary to take on the Marauders. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. from the Gangelhoff Center.