ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (7-1, 3-0 NSIC) will be on the road this upcoming weekend to play Southwest Minnesota State (2-6, 1-2 NSIC) and Sioux Falls (3-4, 1-2 NSIC). The Golden Bears will play at 7:30 p.m. on Friday against the Mustangs and play at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday against the Cougars.
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 went 3-0 last week with wins over Michigan Tech (4-3, 0-0 GLVC), Augustana (1-4, 1-2 NSIC) and Wayne State (3-3, 0-3 NSIC). Sophomore guard Leah Dengerud led the way in Tuesday's 71-62 win over Michigan Tech with 15 points. Ally Gietzel added 15 points of her own making 9-10 free throws.
Gietzel scored a career-high 36 points in CSP's 83-73 victory over Augustana. She broke the school record in free throws made and free throws attempted going 21-22 at the line. Redshirt freshman Lauren Wilson tallied 19 points of her own for her second-highest total of the season. The Golden Bears finished the game with 20 offensive rebounds compared to only eight for the Vikings.
CSP finished the weekend on Sunday against Wayne State with a 65-58 victory. Wilson led the squad with 18 points. Gietzel added 13 of her own playing all 40 minutes. Mikayla Kanenwisher scored 12 points with seven in the first quarter.
The Golden Bears have now won six games in a row, which is their most since the 2018-19 season when they did it twice. CSP won 10 games in a row during the 2016-17 season before losing in the conference tournament.
SEASON LEADERS
Gietzel leads the Golden Bears averaging 18.8 points per game, 7.1 rebounds per game and 38.1 minutes per game. She is the fourth-leading scorer in the NSIC and the overall leader in average minutes. Wilson is second on the team averaging 14.6 points per game, which is eighth in the NSIC. Lindsey Becher is third on the team averaging 13.1 points per game. Becher has the second-highest rebounds per game averaging 5.0.
Dengerud is leading the Golden Bears in assists per game with 2.8 and in steals with 1.8. Gietzel and Kanenwisher each are averaging 2.4 assists per game. Becher is averaging 2.5 blocks per game and has 15 more on the season than any other Golden Bear. She is second in the league in blocked shots.
IN THE RECORD BOOKS
Gietzel's 21-22 free throw performance broke Katie LaViolette's 17-18 performance against Upper Iowa in 2008. Desirae Jones holds the record for best free throw percentage in a game with the most attempts going 16-16 in 2001.
Gietzel's 36-point performance tied for third place in the CSP record books for most points in a single game. This tied Jineen Williams back in 2010 against MSU Moorhead. Jolene Bammert scored 42 points back in the 1984-85 season for the most in school history.
IN THE NSIC STANDINGS
The Golden Bears come into the weekend on top of the NSIC standings after the first weekend of doubleheaders. CSP's 3-0 NSIC record is tied for first with Minnesota Duluth who holds a 6-1 overall record. St. Cloud State and Northern State are both undefeated in conference play through their first two games. CSP's six game win streak is the longest by any NSIC team going into this upcoming weekend.
SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA STATE SERIES HISTORY
Series History: CSP 45, Southwest Minnesota State 19
This will be the 65th meeting between the Golden Bears and the Mustangs. Both teams met for the first time in 1975 and have played every season since the Golden Bears joined Division II in 2000. CSP holds an 18-7 advantage on the road against Southwest Minnesota State.
The Golden Bears held a 15-game win streak from 2005-2011. CSP then started another 17-game win streak from 2012-2020. The Golden Bears are 7-3 in the last 10 matchups against the Mustangs.
LAST MEETING WITH THE MUSTANGS
The Mustangs defeated Concordia-St. Paul 67-59 in the Gangelhoff Center on Feb. 4. Gietzel played all 40 minutes scoring 21 points in the loss. Jalyn Shaw added 10 points of her own. Southwest Minnesota State had three players scoring in the double digits. Bri Stoltzman had 17 points, Jenna Borchers scored 16 points and Madison Gehloff scored 14 points.
This was the first time since the 2001-02 season that the Mustang women won a game at the Gangelhoff Center. The Mustangs hit buzzer-beaters at both the end of the first quarter and to give them a 16-10 second-quarter advantage. The Golden Bears were unable to overcome that start in the second half, despite an 11-2 run in the fourth quarter.
ABOUT THE MUSTANGS
Southwest Minnesota State is hosting its first home NSIC games this weekend. The Mustangs won their first NSIC contest this season against Wayne State, 75-68. SMSU is coming off losses this past weekend against Winona State (1-6, 1-2 NSIC) and Minnesota State (5-4, 2-1 NSIC).
The Mustangs are averaging 69.6 points per game while holding their opponents to an average of 74.5 points per game. This puts their offense at sixth in the NSIC, just one spot behind Concordia in fifth. SMSU's defense is last in the NSIC through their first eight games.
Stoltzman is the sixth-leading scorer in the NSIC averaging 17.4 points per game during her junior campaign. She's shooting 44% from the field this season and leads the team in rebounds per game averaging 7.4 as well as assist per game with 3.1. Stoltzman recorded a career-high 36 points in a loss earlier this season to Northwest Missouri State.
Senior guard Sam Wall is averaging 11 points per game this season after breaking the program record for 3-pointers made last season. Gehloff is back for her senior season averaging 8.8 points per game. Junior guard Peyton Blandin is averaging 9.5 points per game and senior guard Hannah Parsley is averaging eight points per game.
Head coach Tom Webb is in his eighth season with the Mustangs. He has a 79-108 record with a 58-87 record in NSIC play at SMSU. He has an overall head coaching record of 170-231 in 15 seasons coaching at the Division II level.
SIOUX FALLS SERIES HISTORY
Series History: CSP 15, Sioux Falls 8
Concordia-St. Paul and Sioux Falls met for the first time in 2012 and CSP won the first six matchups. Sioux Falls then won the next three from 2016-17. The Golden Bears have won five straight games against the Cougars and are 6-4 all-time on the road in Sioux Falls.
LAST MEETING WITH THE COUGARS
Concordia-St. Paul last played Sioux Falls in the Gangelhoff Center on Feb. 3. Gietzel scored 27 points with nine rebounds in CSP's 64-46 victory. Shaw added 10 more points with five rebounds of her own. The Cougars were led by Megan Fannin with 14 points and Brecli Honner with 10 points.
CSP held Sioux Falls to 29.7% shooting from the field and 18.2% shooting from behind the arc. The Golden Bears shot 40% from the field and 36.8% on 3-pointers. CSP took a commanding lead in the second quarter where they outscored Sioux Falls 20-6 while shooting 50% from the field in the quarter.
ABOUT THE COUGARS
Sioux Falls is coming off its first NSIC victory of the season over Winona State on Saturday, 53-49. The Cougars have the lowest-scoring offense in the conference at 57.6 points per game. Their defense ranks ninth in the conference averaging 58.4 points per game. The Cougars also have the worst assist/turnover ratio in the NSIC.
Sioux Falls is led by freshman forward Kami Wadsworth averaging 11.4 points per game. She scored 12 points in the recent win over Winona State. Freshman guard Ayla Brown is second on the team averaging 9.7 points per game and has the best assists average with 2.9 per game.
Sophomore forward Riley Moreland is coming off a double-double performance with 11 points and 13 rebounds against the Warriors. She went 6-6 from the free-throw line. She leads the Cougars in rebounds per game with 5.7. Freshman guard Danielle Minsaas is averaging 7.4 points per game and Honner is averaging seven points per game during her junior campaign.
Head coach Travis Traphagen has a career record of 278-70 in his 16th season at the helm of the Sioux Falls program. He's previously led the Cougars to two NCAA Central Region berths and an NSIC Tournament Championship.
