ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (12-5, 8-4 NSIC) returns home this weekend for a pair of games in the Gangelhoff Center. The Golden Bears play Bemidji State (3-13, 0-12) at 5:30 p.m. on Friday and Minnesota Crookston (9-9, 6-6 NSIC) at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. 

BUY TICKETS TO HOME GAMES ONLINE – AVOID THE LINE!

Fans are encouraged to buy tickets in advance and bring your QR code to the gates to skip the line! New for 2023, Concordia will be a cashless ticket experience for fans, so if you don't purchase ahead, make sure to bring your card to make your purchase at the gate.

Friends and families who utilize the pass list will also be utilizing the online ticketing service, while faculty & staff will access their free CSP tickets through the service. CSP students will have their all-sport season passes sent directly to their csp.edu email address.

Fans do not need to create a login, remember a username or password or download an app to purchase tickets. BUY ONLINE

WATCH HOME GAMES ONLINE – NSIC NETWORK

All Golden Bear NSIC basketball games will be available to watch online, free of charge, powered by the NSIC Network, and 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

All home games will feature the play-by-play broadcasting provided by Dan Flanagan, the voice of the Golden Bears for over a decade. The St. Paul, Minnesota native studied broadcasting at Fordham University (N.Y.) where he was the voice of the Rams' football and basketball teams in the NCAA Division I Patriot League.

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.

LAST TIME OUT

CSP went 1-1 this past weekend with a 71-61 loss to Northern State on Friday and a 65-58 overtime win against MSU Moorhead on Saturday. Northern State used an 18-3 run in the second quarter to take a 12-point halftime lead against CSP, from which the Golden Bears could not recover. 

Senior guard Ally Gietzel led the Golden Bears with 17 points and nine rebounds. She also had two steals and two assists. Junior center Lindsey Becher finished with 13 points, four rebounds and a season-high five blocks. Junior forward Megan Gamble tallied 10 points and four rebounds. 

The Golden Bears shot 31.4% from the field compared to 52.7% by the Wolves. CSP suffered its most significant rebounding margin of the season at 44-33. This was only the fourth game this season where the Golden Bears lost the rebounding battle. 

Trailing 50-47 against MSU Moorhead, sophomore guard Leah Dengerud hit a 3-pointer from the right corner to tie the game with 7.4 seconds left. In overtime, CSP held the Dragons to 0-8 from the field and outscored them 15-7 in the last five minutes. 

Becher posted her second double-double of the season with 19 points and 10 rebounds. She also added three blocks and an assist to her totals. Gietzel scored 16 points going 9-11 from the free throw line. She also had five rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Dengerud finished with 11 points, making three 3-pointers in the contest.

Both teams struggled shooting the ball as the teams combined to shoot 30.6% from the field. The Golden Bears made four more 3-pointers than the Dragons and outscored MSU Moorhead 28-22 in the paint. There were eight ties and eight lead changes during the game.

SEASON LEADERS

Gietzel leads the Golden Bears averaging 17.6 points per game, which stands at fourth in the NSIC. She leads the Golden Bears in rebounds averaging 7.1 per game and in assists averaging 2.6 per game. She is seventh in the NSIC in rebounding and tied for 10th in assists. She's also tied for the fifth-best free throw percentage in the conference at 80.6%. Gietzel moved up to second in the nation in minutes per game, now averaging 38.05 following Saturday's overtime contest. 

Becher is now averaging 12.2 points per game and a team-high 2.3 blocks per game. She's second in the NSIC in blocks per game. Redshirt sophomore forward Lauren Wilson averages 10.9 points per game and 3.2 rebounds per game for the Golden Bears.

MILESTONES

Becher is one block away from 200 in her career. She is second all-time in Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball history behind Kionda Nicks in first place. Nicks tallied 264 rebounds in her career from 2012-2016.

IN THE NSIC STANDINGS

Minnesota State (14-4, 11-1 NSIC) leads the conference with its 12th straight victory over the weekend. Northern State (14-4, 10-2 NSIC) and Southwest Minnesota State (12-6, 10-2 NSIC) are tied for second place with the Mustangs winning 10 straight games. 

The Golden Bears are tied for fourth place with UMary (12-8, 8-4 NSIC). Minnesota Duluth (10-6, 7-5 NSIC) and St. Cloud State (10-6, 7-5 NSIC) are tied for sixth place just a game behind CSP and UMary. 

BEMIDJI STATE STATE SERIES HISTORY

Series History: Concordia-St. Paul 33, Bemidji State 15

Concordia-St. Paul first played Bemidji State in 1978 and lost the first three matchups against the Beavers before winning the next three from 1980-82. After Bemidji State won the next six matchups, CSP went on a long winning streak. The Golden Bears won 13 straight games from 2001-06 and 28 out of 30 from 2001-19.

The Golden Bears have lost three out of the last four matchups to Bemidji State. Concordia-St. Paul has lost four out of the previous six since winning 28 out of 30 from 2001-19. CSP is 17-3 all-time at home against Bemidji State. 

LAST MEETING WITH THE BEAVERS

Concordia lost in Bemidji last season on Jan. 13, 2023, by a score of 70-67. CSP started strong with a 39-25 lead at halftime, but it quickly disappeared in the third quarter. The Beavers used a 15-4 run to outscore the Golden Bears 20-9 in the third quarter while shooting 52.9%, cutting the lead to three points. The Beavers used that momentum to shoot 64.3% in the fourth quarter scoring 25 points in the final period to get the victory. Most of the scoring was in the paint for both teams as Bemidji State held a slight 46-40 advantage. 

Gamble led the Golden Bears in scoring with 14 points and seven rebounds off the bench. Jadyn Hanson also scored 13 points off the bench for CSP. Raegan Alexander and Jalyn Shaw scored 10 points each. Gietzel tallied a team-high 11 rebounds while scoring seven points. 

Now graduated Trinity Yoder led the Beavers with 22 points. She also posted a team-high four assists along with four rebounds in a team-high 38 minutes. Alyssa Hill scored 21 points with seven rebounds and Sam Pogatchnik scored 11 points with a team-high eight rebounds. 

ABOUT THE BEAVERS

Bemidji State has lost its last six games with the team's most recent win coming on Dec. 19 against Valley City State. The Beavers came up just short of getting their first conference victory in a 44-43 loss to Winona State on Jan. 13. 

Hill leads the Beavers in points per game during her sophomore season averaging 12.9. The forward is shooting 51.8% from the field and 84.8% from the free throw line this season. Pogatchnik returns for her senior season averaging 9.1 points per game. She's also averaging 4.4 rebounds per game.

Senior Amme Sheforgen leads the Beavers in rebounds per game averaging 5.1 per game. She's also leading the team in assists per game at 2.5 while scoring 6.9 points per game. Sophomore Sydney White averages 5.6 points per game and redshirt freshman Alayna Suprenand averages 5.3 points per game. 

Bemidji State has the 13th scoring offense in the league averaging 57.3 points per game and the 11th-ranked defense giving up 64.4 points per game. This puts its margin at 13th in the NSIC at -7.1. 

Chelsea Stoltenberg is in her ninth season as the head coach of Bemidji State. She has a career record of 68-153 with the Beavers. 

MINNESOTA CROOKSTON STATE SERIES HISTORY

Series History: Concordia-St. Paul 28, Minnesota Crookston 9

The Golden Bears and Golden Eagles first met in 2000 and Concordia-St. Paul won the first three matchups of the series. CSP has the longest winning streak in the series winning 14 straight games from 2005-13, before losing the next three games.

Concordia-St. Paul has won the last five matchups against Minnesota Crookston, including a 54-53 victory in 2021. The Golden Bears are 16-4 all-time at home against the Golden Eagles. 

LAST MEETING WITH THE GOLDEN EAGLES

Concordia-St. Paul defeated Minnesota Crookston 84-69 on Jan. 14, 2023. The Golden Bears shot a season-high 51.6% field goal percentage with a season-high 20 assists to get the victory. After leading 38-27 at halftime, CSP started the second half on a 14-0 run and eventually extended its lead to the largest margin at 67-40 in the fourth quarter. 

Gietzel led the Golden Bears with 20 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three blocks. Gamble scored 14 points with seven rebounds while shooting 6-8 from the field. Shaw tallied 12 points shooting 5-7 from the field and Lauren Feddema scored 12 points, shooting 4-5.

Minnesota Crookston was led by Emma Miller with 18 points and five rebounds. Bren Fox scored 12 points and Natalie Mikrot finished with nine points off the bench. Minnesota Crookston finished shooting 39% from the field as a team.

ABOUT THE GOLDEN EAGLES

Minnesota Crookston is on a three-game losing streak with its last win coming at home against Winona State on Jan.12 with a 77-69 victory. The Golden Eagles' best stretch of the season was when they pulled off three straight NSIC wins over MSU Moorhead, Northern State and Wayne State.

Miller is fifth in the NSIC in scoring averaging 17.1 points per game during her sophomore season. The guard leads the team in assists averaging 3.4 which is tied for fourth in the NSIC. She's averaging 6.6 rebounds, 37.1 minutes and shooting 36.9% from the field this season. 

Sophomore forward Janie Tormanen is averaging 13.1 points for the Golden Eagles. She's averaging 5.9 rebounds per game as well. Junior Nicole Hernandez leads the team in rebounds averaging 7.2 per game along with 6.4 points per game. Freshman Olivia Walsh is averaging 8.4 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. Redshirt freshman guard Hope Dudycha is averaging 7.2 points per game. 

Minnesota Crookston has the sixth-best scoring offense in the NSIC averaging 65.9 points per game, but it has the worst scoring defense in the league giving up 69.7 points per game. This gives them the 10th-best margin in the NSIC. 

Despite giving up a lot of points, teams aren't shooting the best against them as the Golden Eagles are holding teams to 36.9% from the field which is second in the NSIC. The Golden Eagles are also averaging the most rebounds per game in the NSIC at 41.7, but give up the most per game in the conference at 44.0. 

Head coach Natalie Moynihan is in her first season with Minnesota Crookston. She spent the last two seasons serving as an assistant coach at the University of Bridgeport in Bridgeport, Connecticut.