ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (7-7, 4-6 NSIC) will look to get back on track this week after home losses to three of the top four teams in the Northern Sun Conference. The Golden Bears will hit the road for Northwest  Minnesota to take on Bemidji State (4-10, 1-9 NSIC) on Friday night at 5:30 p.m. before heading west to Minnesota Crookston to take on the Golden Eagles (8-8, 7-3 NSIC) at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.

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 Bears have had a tough stretch over the last week and a half, taking on two ranked teams and three of the four top schools in the NSIC standings. It started out hopeful as the CSP women took a 12-point fourth-quarter lead over #5 Minnesota State before the NSIC North leader found their shot and would go on to win 84-77. 

Ally Gietzel and Megan Gamble led the Golden Bears, with each picking up 19 point, 11 rebound, double-doubles. It was Gietzel's second double of the year and tied her season highs in points and rebounds. The junior wing played a great all around game, rejecting four shots, and dishing out three assists. 

It was the first career double-double for Gamble and career highs for the sophomore in points and rebounds. Gamble was efficient from the field, going 6-of-9 (66.7 percent) and converted on 6-of-8 shots from the foul line. 

#23 Minnesota Duluth came into Gangelhoff Center with the number one ranked defense in the NSIC and shut down Concordia. The Bulldogs held the Golden Bears to 34 points on just 23.2-percent from the field, and 9.13-percent from three, all season lows. Ally Gietzel continued to be the best option for CSP, scoring 13 points on 4-of-10 shooting and going 5-of-6 from the foul line. The junior wing was the only Concordia player in double digits for the Bears, while on the way picking up three rebounds and a steal. 

St. Cloud State closed out the week, handing the Golden Bears their third straight loss 69-49. The CSP deficit was at eight to start the fourth, 45-37, but was quickly extended as SCSU closed the door. A three minute 11-0 run to start the quarter was just what the Huskies ordered as it more than doubled their lead, 56-37. Shots would not fall for the Golden Bears as Leah Dengerud seemed to be the only one able to score in the fourth quarter, accounting for nine Concordia's 12 points.

Denerud and Jalyn Shaw tied for the team lead in scoring, as both put up 12 points. It was the first double digit scoring effort since November for Shaw, who was just 3-of-13 from the field, but knocked in all five of her free-throw attempts. The junior forward also finished with two rebounds and a steal. 

Dengurud opened the game for the Golden Bears with a 3-pointer to put them on the board and scored the rest of her points in the fourth quarter. The freshman guard shot efficiently, going 4-of-6 from the field and a perfect 3-of-3 from the charity stripe, tying her season high point total from New Year's Eve against Minnesota State.

SERIES HISTORY: CSP 33, BSU 14
The two programs meet for the 49th time on Friday with Concordia holding a strong 33-14 advantage since the series started in 1977-78. The two teams met 10 times between 1977-78 and 1998-99, CSP's last year in the NAIA before joining the NSIC, with Concordia holding a 3-7 record in its pre-Division II years when they were known as the Comets.
 
Since Concordia has been an NSIC and NCAA Division II member in 1999-2000, the Golden Bears are 30-9 against the Beavers. CSP is 2-2 in four all-time matchups in the NSIC Tournament, including a 85-58 victory last year in the 2021-22 NSIC Quarterfinals.
 
Under head coach Amanda Johnson (2016-present), Concordia is 5-3 against the Beavers and 2-0 on the road at BSU Gymnasium. 

LAST MEETING, NSIC QUARTERFINAL: Concordia-St. Paul 85, Bemidji State 58
Concordia-St. Paul scored the first 16 points on the night and never looked back in defeating Bemidji State 85-58 in the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament quarterfinals played at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D.

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.

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 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.

ABOUT THE BEAVERS
Since starting the season 3-1, BSU has dropped nine of their last ten, and find themselves at the bottom of the NSIC Standings. Their lone conference win this season came in their New Years Eve matchup with Minot State, taking the victory 71-58.

The Beavers are last in the conference in scoring margin with a -9.5 scoring deficit. Their scoring has been affected by their poor shooting with ranks 15th in the NSIC at 38.1-percent.

Bemidji State is led by their trio of guards, Trinity Yoder, Maddie Shires, and Sam Pogatchnik. The group is headed up by two-time NSIC second team All-Conference selection Trinity Yoder who has been the Beaver's top scorer, and has put up double-digit points in all but two games this season. The fifth-year senior is averaging 14.2 points per game on 42.3-percent from the field, 36.4-percent from behind the arc, and 61.4-percent from the free-throw line. Yoder is third in the conference with 60 assists and second in average assists per game with 4.3. 

Youngstown State transfer Maddie Shires has stepped into a bigger role for the Beavers in her second year with the program, averaging 11.3 points per game and her 3-point percentage (37.8-percent) is the fourth best in the NSIC. Shires has not played in BSU's last two games, but had her best game in their New Years Eve game with Minot State, scoring 20 points while going 7-of-12 from the field and 5-of-10 from three.
Capping off the three top players for BSU is Sam Pogatchnik and is the third Beaver averaging double figures with 10.1 points per game. The 5-9 redshirt-sophomore has been aggressive on the defensive glass and has the fifth most defensive rebounds in the conference with 88. 

SERIES HISTORY: CSP 27, UMC 9
The two programs met for the 36th time on Friday with Concordia on top of the series since joining the NSIC beginning in the 1999-2000 season. 

Prior to the 2014 season, the Golden Bears held a 21-5 record against the Golden Eagles, but the series has been more even since in the last nine years. In the last 11 matchups, CSP has just a 6-5 advantage.
 
Under head coach Amanda Johnson (2016-present), Concordia is 6-2 against Crookston and 2-0 on the road at Lysaker Gymnasium. 

LAST MEETING: Concordia-St. Paul 54, Minnesota 53
The offense was slow to get rolling for the Golden Bears after Crookston jumped out to an early 7-0 lead. Junior guard Meghan DuBois finally got CSP on the board with a layup on a Sydney Zgutowicz assist over two minutes into the game.

The Golden Eagles defense controlled most of the first quarter, forcing eight turnovers and finishing with an 18-13 advantage.

The Bears struck first in the second quarter when senior guard Riley Wheatcraft laid it in to cut the deficit to three. The teams went back and forth on shots for the next few minutes, but a late 5-0 run by UMC gave the Golden Eagles a six-point advantage at the half.

The Bears remained within striking distance of the Golden Eagles late in the third, but still finished the quarter trailing by two.

Becher got the Bears rolling again in the fourth as she made an early layup to tie the game up at 39. Things remained tight through the remainder of the quarter, but CSP was finally able to break through and take the lead on a Sarah Kuma free throw with just 1:12 remaining. Crookston responded with a drive and layup in the lane to put the Golden Eagles on top once again.

Just five seconds later, freshman guard Sarah Kuma found Becher for what proved to be the game winning layup.UMC had a chance to take the lead on a late layup attempt, but Becher came through clutch again for the Bears with her seventh block of the game to secure the win.

ABOUT THE GOLDEN EAGLES
With a 7-3 conference record, Minnesota Crookston is currently tied for second in the NSIC North with St. Cloud State and UMary. They are currently riding a five game winning streak with their most recent wins coming on the road at Winona State University (63-58) and Upper Iowa (82-78)

Even with the strong conference record, the UMC defense has struggled, giving up the third most points per game in the conference (69.6) and have the 13th in average scoring margin (-4.5). The Golden Eagles have been money from the foul line, shooting 79.5-percent from the charity stripe which is the sixth best in the country and best in the NSIC. 

Crookston is led by true-freshman phenom Emma Miller. The St. Michaels-Albertville grad has averaged the second most points in the NSIC (17.7) and has hit the fifth most three pointers in the conference. The 5-1 guard has scored over 20 points seven times, including 37 points against Bemidji State and 32 points against Northern State. 

UMC also has the second leading rebounder in 6-3 center Bren Fox. The fifth-year senior has been a force down low, pulling down the seventeenth most rebounds in the country (144). She averages 7.9 points per game and leads the league with double-doubles with six.