ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (3-1, 0-0 NSIC) begins NSIC play on Tuesday, Nov. 21. The Golden Bears are on the road to take on Winona State (0-4, 0-0 NSIC) at 7:30 p.m. for their lone game this week.
BUY TICKETS TO HOME GAMES ONLINE – AVOID THE LINE!
Fans are encouraged to buy tickets in advance and bring your QR code to the gates to skip the line! New for 2023, Concordia will be a cashless ticket experience for fans, so if you don't purchase ahead, make sure to bring your card to make your purchase at the gate.
Friends and families who utilize the pass list will also be utilizing the online ticketing service, while faculty & staff will access their free CSP tickets through the service. CSP students will have their all-sport season passes sent directly to their csp.edu email address.
Fans do not need to create a login, remember a username or password or download an app to purchase tickets. BUY ONLINE
WATCH HOME GAMES ONLINE – NSIC NETWORK
All Golden Bear NSIC basketball games will be available to watch online, free of charge, powered by the NSIC Network, and 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
All home games will 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.
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 picked up a pair of wins against GLVC competition in Missouri over the weekend. CSP defeated Maryville 74-68 on Friday then turned around and won on an Ally Gietzel buzzer-beater 74-72 against Truman State.
The Golden Bears were in the lead for 73:42 combined in both games compared to 1:11 from their opponents combined. The game against Maryville featured many runs by the Golden Bears that were countered with runs by the Saints to close the leads just before the end of each quarter.
Concordia would make clutch free throws down the stretch to seal the 74-68 victory. The Golden Bears outscored Maryville 36-16 in the paint and 25-13 off of turnovers. CSP's bench outscored Maryville's 18-4.
Senior guard Ally Gietzel led the Golden Bears with 22 points shooting 8-12 from the field. She tallied six rebounds as well. Redshirt freshman forward Lauren Wilson scored 14 points and tallied a team-high eight rebounds off the bench. Junior forward Lindsey Becher scored 14 points while adding seven rebounds and three blocks.
Sophomore guard Leah Dengerud scored 10 points with a team-high three steals. Mikayla Kanenwisher and Lauren Feddema tied for the team-high in assists with three each. Kanenwisher finished with a season-high seven points in the game and finished with a +15 point differential when she was on the court.
Saturday's game against Truman State ended with an exciting finish. With the game tied at 72-72, Truman State had the opportunity to take the final shot. Gietzel intercepted a pass on a backdoor cut and took the ball all the way down the court to hit a pull-up game-winning jumper as time expired.
The Golden Bears outscored the Bulldogs in the paint 48-34. Although both teams had the same amount of turnovers, CSP outscored Truman on turnovers 18-11. Truman State outscored the Bears 10-2 on second-chance points.
Wilson led the team with a career-high 26 points off the bench. She shot 82% from the field and 7-10 from the free throw line. She also led the team in rebounds with eight tying her career high. Her efforts notched the NSIC Women's Player of the Week award.
Becher finished with 21 points of her own with seven rebounds. She went 9-15 from the field. Dengerud tied her career high with 14 points going 2-3 from behind the arc. She had a season-high five assists and was on the court for 37 minutes. Gietzel tallied 11 points, four rebounds and two assists. The top four scorers account for 72 of the team's 74 points.
SEASON LEADERS
Gietzel and Wilson are both tied for the scoring lead averaging 16.3 points per game each. This ties them for seventh in the NSIC in points per game. Becher is third on the team averaging 15.8 points per game which puts her 10th in the NSIC.
Wilson leads the team in rebounds averaging six per game. Gietzel is slightly behind averaging 5.8 per game. Wilson is tied for 13th in the conference and Gietzel is 20th.
Wilson's 63.2% field goal percentage is third in the conference. Becher's 50% field goal percentage is 10th in the conference and she is fifth in the conference in blocks averaging two per game. Kanenwisher is averaging 3.8 assists per game which puts her at seventh in the NSIC.
WINONA STATE SERIES HISTORY
Series History: CSP 38, Winona State 21
Concordia-St. Paul and Winona State are facing off for the 60th time in the series as the Golden Bears control a 38-21 record dating back to 1977. The two schools met 10 times before CSP's move from the NAIA to the NCAA in 1999. The Golden Bears had a 6-4 record in those games.
Concordia won 19 of 20 games against the Warriors from 2000-2011 with the lone loss coming in the 2007 season. Winona State would then win 11 out of the next 15 contests. CSP has had an 8-2 record in the last 10 matchups against Winona State.
The Golden Bears are 14-8 all-time on the road in Winona. As conference opponents, the Golden Bears have the advantage 32-14. Under head coach Amanda Johnson (2016-present) Concordia is 10-7 against the Warriors.
LAST MEETING WITH THE WARRIORS
CSP went 1-1 against the Warriors last season winning the first matchup in the Gangelhoff Center 58-39. The Golden Bears would then lose the second matchup in the regular season finale on Feb. 18 in Winona 73-53.
The Golden Bears got off to a rough start trailing 20-7 at the end of the first quarter and 42-20 at the half. CSP was outscored in the paint by Winona 28-18 and Winona's bench outscored CSP's 39-20.
Sarah Kuma led the Golden Bears off the bench with 18 points. Gietzel scored 17 points going 9-9 on free throws, but she went 0-6 from 3-point range. Raegan Alexander was the third leading scorer with seven points. Concordia shot 16-66 from the field and 6-25 from behind the arc. The team did make all 15 of their free throws.
The Warriors were led by Lauren Fech with 16 points in 39 minutes played. Alex Dornfeld had a double-double with 12 points and 22 rebounds. Riley Catlin and Ava Sergio added 14 and 12 points respectively off the bench. Winona State shot 27-52 from the field and 12-21 from behind the arc.
ABOUT THE WARRIORS
Winona State enters this week's contest with a 0-4 record playing the same four teams that Concordia-St. Paul has played. The Warriors lost to Truman State 83-59 and to Maryville 62-52 this past weekend. Their closest game was a double-overtime 75-74 loss to Southeastern Oklahoma State on Nov. 11.
The Warriors entered this season picked 12th in the NSIC Women's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Poll. Dornfeld was named their player to watch. This season, Dornfeld is averaging six points in only two games played for the Warriors.
Senior guard Emma Carpenter has been the leading scorer for the Warriors averaging 9.8 points per game. She transferred before last season from Minnesota Crookston, where she was a three-year starter for the Eagles. Carpenter averaged 3.4 points for the Warriors last season with 11 starts in 26 appearances.
Junior guard Olivia Gamoke 9.3 points for Winona State after transferring this past offseason from Sioux Falls. She is second on the team with nine total assists this season. Guard Mattie Shimenz returns to the Warriors for her junior season this year. She is averaging 9.3 points for the Warriors with a team-high 4.5 rebounds per game.
On the inside, the Warriors are led by senior center Ava Sergio averaging 7.8 points per game this season. Freshman forward Vivica Bretton is averaging 6.5 points per game.
The Warriors are led by head coach Ana Wurtz, who is in her second season at the head of the program. She currently has a career record of 11-21. Wurtz has served for the past 10 seasons in some capacity on the Warriors women's basketball staff.
