WAYNE, Neb. - The Concordia St. Paul women's basketball team (12-12, 9-11 NSIC) hung on to win 63-62 on the road at Wayne State (11-13, 7-13 NSIC) on Saturday evening at Rice Auditorium. With the win the Golden Bears move two games ahead of the Wildcats for the fourth seed in the NSIC South division.

The first quarter was back and forth with five ties and four lead changes. The Golden Bears picked up four steals in the quarter and were able to convert WSC turnovers into eight points. With the game all tied up with under a minute left in the quarter, Makayla Johnson was able to steal a Wildcat pass and CSP turned it into points on the other end with a layup from Leah Dengerud to finish it out with a 15-13. 

Concordia increased their lead with quick baskets from Ally Gietzel and Jadyn Hanson and were able to hold their lead through to the half. The Golden Bears extended their lead to as many as eight points on a Dengerud 3-pointer, but Wayne was able to battle back to within one before halftime, knocking down two-3-pointers within the last 90 seconds to bring the score to 29-28.

Concordia opened the second half on a 13-5 run and extended their lead to double-digits a few minutes later after back-to-back layups by Jalyn Shaw and Gietzel. The Golden Bears limited WSC to just three baskets for the first eight and a half minutes of the third quarter, but the Wildcats would finish with the last three baskets of the period to bring them within six heading into the final quarter 50-44.

Wayne State began to pick away at the CSP lead in the fourth quarter, with the game's leading scorer Kassidy Pingel leading the way. Pingel would finish with 24 points while shooting 8-of-12 from the field, including 3-of-5 from behind the arc and was 7-of-9 from the foul line. WSC started the fourth on a 9-4 run to bring it within one, 54-53, with four minutes left to go. Free throws from Dengerud and a 3-pointer from Shaw would give the Bears a little breathing room, but it was short lived. The Wildcats went on another 9-2 run to claim their first lead with 30 seconds left to go, 62-62. 

On the ensuing possession, Gietzel would collect two of her missed shots before being fouled on her third with 11 seconds left to send her to the line. The junior wing knocked down both shots to take back the lead for good, forcing a missed shot and grabbing a steal as time expired to win 63-62.

The Golden Bears shot 31.5-percent in the game from the field and 35.7-percent from 3-point land, their best mark this season from behind the arc. Wayne State finished shooting 36.4-percent from the field and 26.1-percent from deep. Both teams knocked down an equal number of free throws, with the Golden Bears hitting on 16-of-20 from the charity stripe and WSC going 16-of-19. 

Ally Gietzel led the team with 18 points and picked up her fourth double-double of the season with a career-high 13 rebounds while adding six assists and four steals in a fantastic all-around performance. 

Jalyn Shaw finished right behind Gietzel with 16 points, while shooting 6-of-12 from the field and knocking down four 3-pointers. Leah Dengerud was one rebound away from the first double of her career as the freshman scored 10 points and pulled down nine rebounds.

CSP has a split home and away week coming up to close out the 2022-23 regular season. The Golden Bears host Upper Iowa on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the two teams last NSIC conference matchup before the Peacocks head to the GLVC. The Concordia women are on the road on Saturday for the final game of the season to take on Winona State at 5:30 p.m.