ABERDEEN, S.D. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (11-5, 7-4 NSIC) was blocked 15 times in its 71-61 loss to Northern State (13-4, 9-2 NSIC) on Friday evening. The Wolves outshot the Golden Bears, shooting 52.7% from the field compared to CSP's 31.4%.

The most impactful run of the game came in the second quarter. Trailing 21-20 with 7:13 left in the quarter, the Wolves went on an 18-3 run over the next 5:22. This included holding the Golden Bears scoreless over an 11-0 run and without a field goal for 4:50. CSP trailed 38-26 at the half.

Northern State's Alayna Benike scored seven points during the run. The Wolves made three 3-pointers during the run coming from Decontee Smith, Benike and Rianna Fillippi. 

CSP battled in the third quarter to cut the lead to nine points by the end of it with a 17-14 advantage. Sophomore guard Leah Dengerud hit a 3-pointer to cut the Wolves' lead to seven points with 9:14 left in the game. On the next Golden Bear possession, junior forward Lindsey Becher was blocked inside the paint by Brynn Alfson. Benike hit a 3-pointer on the next possession to complete the five-point swing and start a 13-2 run for the Wolves that put the Golden Bears away.

One of the highlights of the night for Concordia was senior guard Ally Gietzel hitting a buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of the first quarter. CSP shot 3-6 from behind the arc in the opening quarter, but finished 6-20 in the game. There was not a single foul called in the first quarter, which seemed to set the tone for the aggressive shot-blocking defense on both sides for the night. 

Gietzel finished the game one rebound short of a double-double with 17 points and nine rebounds. She also tallied two assists and two steals. Becher tallied 13 points and a season-high five blocks. She is now four blocks away from hitting 200 in her career. 

Junior forward Megan Gamble finished with 10 points, six of which came off of first-quarter 3-pointers. Redshirt freshman Lauren Wilson finished with seven points. Dengerud finished with five points and a team-high three steals.

Northern State finished with four players scoring double digits. Madelynn Bragg finished with 19 points shooting 9-17 from the field along with six blocks. Benike tallied 16 points shooting 6-8 and Fillipi finished with 15 shooting 6-12. Decontee Smith finished with 10 points going 2-2 from behind the arc. 

The Golden Bears shot 15 more field goals than the Wolves but ended up making seven less field goals. CSP shot 6-20 from behind the arc compared to 6-12 from NSU. Concordia finished 11-16 from the free throw line. 

Concordia-St. Paul was outrebounded 44-33 in the contest. The -11 margin is the worst of the season for CSP and the first time the team has been outrebounded since Dec. 2, 2023, against Augustana. It was only the fourth time CSP's been outrebounded all year. 

Northern State had 13 more turnovers than CSP leading to the Golden Bears outscoring the Wolves 15-4 off of turnovers. Points in the paint were even at 32-32. Northern State held the lead for 33:29 compared to only 4:44 for Concordia.

Concordia-St. Paul now falls to a tie for fifth place with Minnesota Duluth in the NSIC standings following Friday evening's games. Northern State remains in a tie for second place after winning its fourth straight game.

The Golden Bears are on the road again to take on MSU Moorhead (6-10, 6-5 NSIC) on Saturday. The Dragons fell to Minnesota Duluth on Friday by a score of 78-64. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. in the Nemzek Fieldhouse.