ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (12-12, 9-11 NSIC) wrap up the 2022-23 regular season this week with their final home and away games before the NSIC Tournament. The Golden Bears welcome Upper Iowa (10-15, 6-14 NSIC) to Gangelhoff Center on Thursday night before hitting the road to take on Winona State (10-16, 4-16 NSIC). 

BUY TICKETS TO HOME GAMES ONLINE
Fans are encouraged to buy tickets in advance and bring your QR code to the gates to skip the line! Friends and families who utilize the pass list will also be utilizing the online ticketing service while all students, faculty & staff will access their free CSP tickets through the service. Fans do not need to create a login, remember a username or password or download an app to purchase tickets, and tickets can still be purchased with cash at the gates. Find out more in the partnership announcement between CSP Athletics and HomeTown Ticketing.
 
WATCH ONLINE – NSIC NETWORK
All Golden Bear football 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.

GOLDEN BEARS PLAYOFF PICTURE
The CSP women (9-11 NSIC) secured a playoff spot on Saturday, defeating Wayne State 63-62 to punch their ticket to the NSIC Tournament for the tenth straight year. The Golden Bears are now in control of the fourth seed in the NSIC South and need to win one game to seal their place over Wayne State (7-13 NSIC) who sits two games back heading into the final weekend. 

Concordia is in position to secure a home game against Northern State (10-10 NSIC) or MSU Moorhead (10-10 NSIC), if the Bears finish the week with an identical or better record with either team. If both NSIC North teams finish with better records than the CSP, then the Golden Bears would travel to the lower seed of the two for their opening round playoff game. 

Wayne State has an opportunity to overtake Concordia in the standings if they win their last two games and CSP drops both of their contests to finish with identical conference records. The two teams split their head to head matchups, but the Wildcats would win the tie-breaker by holding an advantage in divisional win percentage at the end of the week. 

SERIES HISTORY: CSP 31, UPPER IOWA 5
Concordia holds a firm grip on the series, winning 31 of the first 36 meetings dating back to the 2004-05 season as UIU was looking to join the NSIC, which they did for the 2006-07 campaign. CSP won the first 13 contests between the programs and is currently on a six game win streak against the Peacocks.
 
In 16 games played at Upper Iowa's Dorman Gymnasium, the Golden Bears are 15-2. UIU's last win against Concordia was December 13, 2019, when they handed the CSP women a 65-63 to break a 49-game losing streak. 
 
Johnson's Golden Bears hold a 12-2 record against the Peacocks since 2016 and is 5-0 against UIU at Gangelhoff Center.

LAST MEETING, Dec. 1, 2022: CSP 71, UIU 62
The Golden Bears trailed early before a 12-2 run gave them a 16-10 lead at the first quarter break. Both teams had an offensive explosion in the second quarter with Concordia outscoring the Peacocks 26-25 to take a seven point lead into halftime.

The CSP women were 10-for-17 from the field (58.8-percent) in the second quarter and showed off their depth in the half as eight Golden Bears put points on the board. On the other side, the UIU offense was sparked by Katie Tornstrom as the senior guard exploded for 12 points in the quarter.

The Golden Bear offense went cold in the third, going 1-for-12 from the field as the Peacocks turned up the defensive intensity coming out of the half. UIU also struggled from the field, but was able to close out the third quarter on a 10-3 run to tie it up 47-47 going into the fourth. 

After a tight start to the quarter, the Golden Bears started to find their rhythm. A Jalyn Shaw three began a 10-3 run that she capped off by converting a three point play to give the Golden Bears a 64-57 lead. It turned into a free throw game as Upper Iowa attempted to get back in the game. Concordia was able to convert their attempts from the line and pushed their lead to 12 points, their largest margin of the game, before a late Peacock 3-pointer would make the final score 71-62.

Sarah Kuma had a strong day for CSP, finishing with a career-high 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting (54.5-percent) with five rebounds and a block. Ally Gietzel tied Kuma with 19 points for her best scoring output of the season and tied Jalyn Shaw with a team-high seven rebounds.

On the day, the Golden Bears shot 41.1-percent (24-of-58) from the field and 65.5 percent from the foul line, where they spent plenty of the afternoon with 29 attempts, sinking 19. Upper Iowa shot an identical 41.1-percent (24-of-58) from the field, but were kept off the foul line, shooting just 12 total making nine. 

ABOUT THE PEACOCKS
UIU is led by first year head coach Justin Maass who has coached Upper Iowa to a 10-15 overall record and a 6-14 record in the NSIC. The Peacocks struggled earlier in the year, dropping nine in a row, but have made a late playoff push, winning four of their last six, including a pivotal 73-59 win against Wayne State. They are now one game back of the Wildcats, but need to be one game ahead of them by the end of the week since WSC holds the divisional win percentage tie-breaker. 

The Upper Iowa offense is sixth in the NSIC, averaging 66.7 points per game with production from the 3-point line, averaging the sixth most 3-pointers per game (6.6) with the sixth best 3-point percentage (.328). UIU has kept teams from scoring second chance buckets by being active on the defensive glass and average the second most defensive rebounds per game in the conference with 28.8. 

The player to watch this week for the Peacocks is their point guard Lydia Haack. The junior plays an average of 38 minutes per game which leads the conference and is third in the nation. Haack is the third leading scorer in the NSIC, averaging 17.3 points per game and is second in the conference in assists with 107. She has picked up three double-doubles and was one assist away from a triple-double against St. Cloud State.

SERIES HISTORY: CSP 38, WINONA STATE 20
Concordia-St. Paul and Winona State will meet for the 67th time this Thursday with the Golden Bears controlling a 38-20 series history between the programs dating back to 1977. The two teams met 10 times prior to Concordia's move from NAIA to NCAA Division II in 1999-00 with Concordia holding a 6-4 record in those games. After the Warriors topped CSP to sweep the Golden Bears' debut season in the NSIC in 1999-00, Concordia rattled off 12 wins in a row and won 19 of 20 between 2000-01 and 2010-11.
 
In recent years, Concordia has dominated Winona State, winning eight of the last nine. At home, Concordia is 16-7 all-time against the Warriors with wins in six of the last seven meetings at Gangelhoff Center dating back to December 10, 2016.
 
Under head coach Amanda Johnson (2016-present), Concordia is 10-6 with the Warriors defeating Johnson's CSP squad in four of the first five meetings before CSP flipped the results in recent years. Johnson is 4-5 against WSU on the road.

LAST MEETING, DEC 3, 2022: CSP 58, WSU 39
A driving layup by Sarah Kuma to start the game sparked a 10-0 run that the Warriors would not be able to make up, with the Golden Bears holding a double digit advantage for the rest of the game. CSP would hold the Warriors to just six points and 2-of-11 from the field to take a 17-6 lead at the end of first quarter.

Both offenses struggled in the second quarter with CSP shooting just 30 percent (3-of-10) and WSU shooting 36.4-percent (4-of-11). The Bears defense helped them add points to their lead before the half, picking up two blocks, four steals and out-scoring the Warriors 7-0 in points off turnovers. Two free throws at the end of the quarter by Kuma gave her 11 points break and helped Concordia close out the half with a 27-15 lead.

The Concordia defense continued to play well after halftime, holding Winona State to single digits for the third quarter in a row. Points were hard to find with both teams playing tight on opposing scorers. A Kuma layup and 3-pointer by Jadyn Hanson to begin the quarter gave CSP its largest lead up to that point with a 17 point advantage. After trading baskets for the rest of the quarter, the Warriors closed out the third with three free throws to cut the lead back to 14 with the Bears on top 38-24. 

Concordia shut the door in the fourth quarter, going on a 18-8 run to push the lead to 24 points with Kuma, Jalyn Shaw, Lauren Feddema, Megan Gamble, and Raegan Alexander all hitting 3-point baskets to make the score 56-32. Two layups and a late three by the Warriors made the final score 58-39.

As a squad, the Golden Bears led in nearly every single statistical category, outshooting the Winona State from the field 41.8-percent to-32.6 percent and from three 33.3-percent to just 12.5-percent. The Concordia women outrebounded WSU (36-26) and had the advantage in points in the paint (26-22), points off turnovers (15-8), and second chance points (15-2). 

The 39 points was the fewest allowed by CSP since 2015 and the fewest points allowed to a NSIC opponent since 2014 when the Golden Bears held Northern State to 36 in the 2013-14 NSIC Championship. It was also the lowest point total by Winona State in their history with Concordia.

ABOUT THE WARRIORS
Winona State started the season strong, winning seven in a row before losing 16 of their next 19 games to fall out of the playoff race. The Warriors are on a five game losing streak and it doesn't get easier for WSU as they take on Minnesota State and CSP this week, having lost to both by 19 points in their first meetings. 

It has been a tough season for first year head coach Ana Wurtz as her team ranks last in the conference in assists, blocks, made free throws, rebounds, and second to last in scoring offense and turnover margin. The numbers have been positive from beyond the arc with the warriors hitting the fourth most 3-pointers per game in the NSIC with 7.8.

Lauren Fech is the WSU player to watch coming into the game. The guard leads the team in points per game with 11.6 while averaging 4.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists. Fech has scored in double digits in seven of the last eight games, including 27 points while shooting 64.3-percent with four 3-pointers against Wayne State.