ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (11-4, 7-3 NSIC) heads west this weekend to play Northern State (12-4, 8-2 NSIC) and MSU Moorhead (6-9, 6-4 NSIC). The Golden Bears are scheduled for tip-off against the Wolves on Friday, Jan. 19 at 5:30 p.m. and against the Dragons on Saturday, Jan. 20 at 3:30 p.m.
LAST TIME OUT
The Golden Bears got a road victory on Wednesday, Jan. 10 against St. Cloud State behind 25 points from senior guard Ally Gietzel. The Golden Bears shot 48.1% from the field as a team, which was their fourth-highest field goal percentage in a game this season.
Concordia-St. Paul only trailed once in the contest down 28-25 late in the second quarter. The team responded with an 8-0 run to finish the half, which ended with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by junior forward Megan Gamble. CSP then extended that run to 16-2 to start the second half and maintained the lead the rest of the way.
Gietzel led Concordia in all other statistical categories with seven rebounds, three assists and two steals. She shot 64.3% from the field and 100% from the free throw line. This was her seventh time scoring 20 or more points this season.
Redshirt freshman forward Lauren Wilson finished with 12 points, shooting 5-9 from the field. Gamble scored nine points and junior forward Lindsey Becher scored eight points adding seven rebounds. Junior guard Mikayla Kanenwisher tallied six points with two 3-pointers.
SEASON LEADERS
Gietzel leads the team averaging 17.8 points per game which is fourth in the NSIC and 41st in the nation. She's averaging a team-high 7.1 rebounds per game and is tied for fourth in the conference in that category. She also leads the Golden Bears in assists averaging 2.6 per game. Gietzel is shooting 44.5% from the field this season which is eighth in the NSIC. Her 81.0% free throw percentage is in fifth place in the conference. She leads the conference averaging 37.59 minutes per game which is fifth in Division II.
Becher is averaging 11.7 points per game which is 20th in the NSIC. Her 5.6 rebounds per game is tied for 16th in the conference. She's second in the NSIC in blocks per game averaging 2.1 this season. She has the best field goal percentage for the Golden Bears on the NSIC leaderboard at 47% which is sixth in the NSIC.
Wilson is third on the team in points per game averaging 11.4. She's also shooting 53.6% from the field. Sophomore guard Leah Dengerud leads the team in steals averaging 1.6 per game. She's also averaging 7.4 points per game and 2.1 assists per game.
MILESTONES
Gietzel hit the 1,000-point milestone with her performance against St. Cloud State. She's at 1,013 total points in her collegiate career with 699 of those coming at Concordia-St. Paul. Becher is at 191 total blocks in her career just nine away from 200.
IN THE NSIC STANDINGS
Minnesota State leads the conference race with a 9-1 NSIC record. Southwest Minnesota State and Northern State both have two conference losses each. Concordia-St. Paul is in a tie for fourth place with UMary with three losses each after the Marauders lost to Augustana this past weekend.
NORTHERN STATE STATE SERIES HISTORY
Series History: Northern State 23, Concordia-St. Paul 18
Concordia-St. Paul lost the first six matchups against Northern State from 1994 to 2001 before winning the next three matchups in 2002-03. The Golden Bears are 5-5 in the last 10 matchups against the Wolves.
CSP is 5-12 all-time on the road against Northern State. The closest matchup between the two teams was the 72-68 overtime loss in 2020 for the Golden Bears in the Gangelhoff Center.
LAST MEETING WITH THE WOLVES
Concordia last faced Northern State in Aberdeen, South Dakota on Jan. 21, 2023. Northern State used a fast start to take a 21-12 lead after the first quarter and continued to hold the lead throughout the contest, winning 71-52. The Wolves shot 43.5% from the field in the game making nine more shots than CSP who shot 30.5% from the field.
The Golden Bears were led by Dengerud with 14 points/. She also added three steals and two blocks on the defensive side of the ball. Gietzel scored nine points and Gamble had seven.
Kailee Oliverson led the Wolves with 22 points shooting 9-17 from the field. Jordyn Hilgemann scored 15 points making three 3-pointers. Laurie Rogers tallied 14 points and seven rebounds for the Wolves. Northern State outrebounded Concordia 45-33 in the contest.
ABOUT THE WOLVES
Northern State enters this game on a three-game winning streak. The Wolves got home wins against Wayne State and Augustana this past weekend. They have a 6-1 record at home with the lone loss coming to Parkside on Nov. 27, which makes them undefeated at home against NSIC opponents this season.
Northern State is led by sophomore forward Madelyn Bragg who has elevated her play this season. After averaging 4.9 points per game last year, Bragg is averaging 19.6 for the Wolves this season. She is second in the NSIC in points per game. She also leads the Wolves in rebounds per game averaging 7.0 and in blocks averaging 1.8. She also has the highest field goal percentage in the NSIC shooting 56.5%.
Senior guard Rianna Fillipi is averaging 11.4 points per game and an NSIC-leading 4.8 assists per game while adding 6.8 rebounds per game. She plays the most minutes for the Wolves averaging 35.6 per game. Alayna Benike is averaging 7.9 points per game for Northern State in her junior campaign adding 4.7 rebounds per game.
Senior forward Brynn Alson averages 7.3 points per game for the Wolves along with 6.0 rebounds per game. Freshman guard Decontee Smith is averaging 5.7 points per game for Northern State.
Northern State has the top defense in the NSIC giving up an average of 59.3 points per game while holding opponents to an NSIC-best 36% field goal percentage. The Wolves' offense is averaging 65.8 points per game, which is seventh in the conference. They have the third-best point margin in the league.
Paula Krueger is in her sixth season as head coach of Northern State and her 15th overall season with the program. She was the head coach at the Colorado School of Mines from 2003-12. She has a 205-200 overall coaching record with a 53-62 record as the head coach of Northern State.
MSU MOORHEAD STATE SERIES HISTORY
Series History: Concordia-St. Paul 25, MSU Moorhead 18
The Golden Bears won the first four matchups against MSU Moorhead in the 1970s-1980s. After the turn of the century, the Dragons won the next four games in 2000-01. CSP's longest win streak was five games from 2005-07.
The Golden Bears are 2-8 in the last 10 matchups against the Dragons. This included the longest winning streak by either team in the series with MSU Moorhead winning seven games from 2014-20. The Golden Bears are 8-10 all-time on the road against MSU Moorhead.
LAST MEETING WITH THE DRAGONS
CSP played MSU Moorhead on Feb. 22, 2023, getting a 62-50 victory in Moorhead to advance to the NSIC Tournament quarterfinals last season. The Golden Bears used a 24-9 second quarter to gain a major advantage against the Dragons in the contest. CSP opened the quarter on an 11-2 run with Gietzel scoring the first seven points. Despite MSU Moorhead outscoring CSP 15-6 in the third quarter cutting the lead to 42-33, the Golden Bears were able to fend off the comeback in the fourth quarter to get the victory.
Raegan Alexander scored 19 points for the Golden Bears against her former team as she shot 8-11 from the field. She also added six rebounds. Gietzel scored 19 points going 9-20 from the field and led the team in rebounds with seven. She also tallied a team-high four assists. The Golden Bears only turned the ball over seven times.
The Dragons were led by now graduated Mariah McKeever with 21 points and six rebounds. She had MSU Moorhead's only three steals in the contest. Terryn Johnson scored 10 points for the Dragons and Natalie Jens had eight points with six rebounds.
ABOUT THE DRAGONS
After losing their first seven games this season, the Dragons have won six of their last eight. The Dragons lost to Southwest Minnesota State 74-61 on Friday before rebounding with a win against Sioux Falls on Saturday, 75-42. MSU Moorhead has a 3-2 record at home this season.
Jens leads the Dragons averaging 16.1 points per game in her junior campaign which puts her at seventh in the NSIC. She's second in the NSIC in assists per game averaging 4.2 and third in steals per game averaging 2.5. Johnson is averaging 9.8 points per game and 7.8 rebounds per game during her sophomore season. She's third in the NSIC in rebounds per game.
Freshman Abby Berge is averaging 7.9 points per game despite only averaging 18.3 minutes per game. She also has an average of 5.1 rebounds per game. Freshman guard Ashley Fritz is averaging 7.3 points per game and freshman forward Maya Metcalf is averaging 6.5 points per game.
MSU Moorhead has the ninth-best scoring offense in the NSIC averaging 62.3 points per game and the sixth-best scoring defense giving up 61.7 points per game. The Dragons are third in the NSIC in team rebounds per game.
Karla Nelson is in her 24th season as the head coach for MSU Moorhead. She's had 21 straight winning seasons at the helm of the program which has included winning NSIC Coach of the Year four times. Nelson has a career record of 405-250 at MSU Moorhead picking up her 400th win earlier this season against Bemidji State.
