SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The Golden Bear women's basketball team (8-2, 4-1 NSIC) picked up their eighth win of the season over Sioux Falls (3-6, 1-4 NSIC) on Saturday, 63-39. The 24-point margin of victory tied CSP's largest margin of victory this season which was in the opener against Southeastern Oklahoma State. 

Trailing 24-21 in the second quarter, the Golden Bears went on an 11-0 run in the final 2:40 of the first half. Sophomore Leah Dengerud sparked it with a layup to give CSP its the lead at 25-24. Redshirt forward Lauren Wilson would then hit a 3-pointer on the next possession to give the Golden Bears a four-point lead. Senior guard Ally Gietzel would score the final four points before the end of the half, including a last-second jump shot to beat the buzzer and hold an eight point halftime lead. 

The Golden Bears kept that momentum rolling in the second half outscoring the Cougars 31-15. A big part of the second-half push for the Golden Bears was their second-chance points in which they outscored Sioux Falls 15-3. CSP held Sioux Falls to 18.2% shooting from the field and 0-6 from the 3-point line in the second half. 

After trailing 18-15 in the first quarter, Concordia-St. Paul outscored Sioux Falls 17-6,15-9 and 16-6 in the following three quarters. Sioux Falls shot 8-16 from the field in the first quarter but went 7-35 in the rest of the game. 

Gietzel led the scoring efforts for the Golden Bears with 13 points along with a team-high seven rebounds. She also led the team in assists with three. Dengerud finished with 10 points and two steals. She tallied her season-high in rebounds with six, four of which came off of the offensive glass. 

Junior guard Mikayla Kanenwisher finished with eight points. Six of those points came in the fourth quarter after she made her only two 3-point attempts of the night. Jalyn Shaw finished with eight points which was a season high for the senior forward. Five of her points came in the first quarter after the Golden Bears found themselves trailing early in the game. Shaw hit a 3-pointer to cut the six-point Cougar lead down to three points at the end of the first quarter. 

Junior center Lindsey Becher finished with seven points with all of them scored in the third quarter. Wilson finished with six points. Lauren Feddema and Emma Mommsen had four points each. Redshirt freshman guard Ella Campbell hit the last 3-pointer of the game to get on the scoreboard.

Sioux Falls was led in scoring by Kami Wadsworth with 11 points. Brecli Honner added 10 points from off the bench. Riley Moreland scored eight points and Ayla Brown scored seven points. 

Sioux Falls finished shooting 15-51 from the field and 0-14 from behind the arc. They shot 50% from the free throw line making nine of 18 free throw attempts. The Golden Bears shot 23-57 from the field overall. They were 6-15 from behind the arc and 11-16 from the free-throw line. 

The Golden Bears outscored Sioux Falls on second-chance points 24-3 overall in the game. CSP's bench had the final advantage 25-13 over Sioux Falls. The Golden Bears outrebounded the Cougars 37-29. Sioux Falls had 15 turnovers and Concordia-St. Paul finished with 12. CSP held a slight advantage from points off turnovers at 10-9. 

The Golden Bears are now tied for second place in the NSIC after the weekend of games. CSP will play No. 19 Minnesota Duluth (7-2, 4-1 NSIC) for the last game in the Gangelhoff Center for 2023 on Thursday, Dec. 14. The Bulldogs suffered their first NSIC loss on Saturday 86-80 against Southwest Minnesota State (4-6, 3-2 NSIC).