ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (9-3, 5-2 NSIC) competes for the first time in the new year against Minot State (4-11, 1-5 NSIC) and UMary (8-6, 4-2 NSIC) this weekend. Tip-off in the Gangelhoff Center is set for 7:30 p.m. against the Beavers on Friday and at 5:30 p.m. against the Marauders 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
The Golden Bears were on the road against Minnesota State (9-4, 6-1 NSIC) to finish out the 2023 calendar year on Dec. 19. Concordia-St. Paul had 35 turnovers in the 72-61 loss to the Mavericks.
Minnesota State scored 38 points off of those turnovers utilizing a full-court press. Minnesota State led 21-11 after the opening quarter where the Mavericks forced 12 turnovers. The Mavericks held onto their lead throughout the contest leading to a 19-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.
CSP used a 16-4 run to cut the lead down to six points with 59 seconds left in the game. Minnesota State made five of their last six free throws to hold the lead and seal the deal.
Junior forward Megan Gamble scored a season-high 16 points going 6-9 from the field and 3-3 from behind the arc. Junior center Lindsey Becher scored 16 points with 10 coming in the fourth quarter. She finished the game shooting 8-11 from the field with 7 rebounds.
Minnesota State was led by the trio of Joey Batt, Destinee Bursch and Hannah Herzig. Batt scored 17 points shooting 8-13 from the field with six steals. Bursch finished with 16 points with a team-high four assists. Herzig finished with 15 points and five steals.
SEASON LEADERS
Senior guard Ally Gietzel leads the Golden Bears averaging 17.1 points per game. She's averaging 37.7 minutes per game which leads the NSIC and is fifth in the nation. Her 7.1 rebounds per game is seventh in the conference and her 2.6 assists per game is 13th in the conference. She's also shooting a team-high 80.6% from the free throw line which is sixth in the NSIC.
Junior center Lindsey Becher is averaging 12.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and one assist per game. She's averaging 2.3 blocks per game which is second in the conference and 16th in the nation.
Redshirt freshman forward Lauren Wilson is averaging 12.0 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. Sophomore guard Leah Dengerud is scoring 9.2 points per game along with 4.5 rebounds per game and 2.3 assists per game.
IN THE NSIC STANDINGS
Minnesota State and Northern State are tied for first place with only one conference loss. There is a six-way tie for second place with two losses after the holiday break. Concordia is tied with Minnesota Duluth, Southwest Minnesota State, St. Cloud State, Minnesota Crookston and UMary for second place.
MINOT STATE SERIES HISTORY
Series History: Concordia-St. Paul 8, Minot State 3
The Golden Bears and Beavers had their first-ever matchup in 2013 after the Beavers joined the NSIC. CSP won the first four matchups, but are 4-3 in the last seven games. The Golden Bears have never lost at home to Minot State as they are 5-0 in the Gangelhoff Center.
LAST MEETING WITH THE BEAVERS
Concordia defeated Minot State last season on Jan. 27, 2023, by a score of 71-61 in the Gangelhoff Center. CSP used a 21-8 second quarter to take the lead and control the game.
Gietzel led the Golden Bears with 27 points in the contest shooting 10-17 from the field. She played all 40 minutes in the game adding eight rebounds and four assists to her totals. Dengerud scored 14 points and Raegan Alexander added 11 points. Jalyn Shaw tallied a team-high 10 rebounds.
Minot State was led by now-graduated Kate Head with 22 points. She shot 7-18 from the field for the Beavers. Natasha Elliott tallied 12 points for Minot State in the contest.
ABOUT THE BEAVERS
Minot State comes into the game against CSP following an 81-51 win on Dec. 30 against South Dakota Mines. Before that contest, Minot State had lost four straight conference games.
The Beavers are led by junior guard Sydney Gustavsson averaging 12.3 points per game. She is the 18th in the conference in scoring. Sophomore guard Taylor Goss is averaging 8.3 points per game and she's shooting 35.1% from the 3-point line.
Sophomore guard Vilborg Jonsdottir is leading the Beavers in assists averaging 2.8 per game. Lorelei McIver leads the team in rebounds averaging 4.2 per game during her sophomore campaign.
Minot State is 13th in the conference in both offensive and defensive scoring. They are averaging 60.1 points per game while giving up 68.4 per game. The team's -8.3 scoring margin is the worst in the NSIC. They are averaging the least amount of rebounds per game as a team in the NSIC at 31.5 per game and have a -8.1 rebounding margin. One positive for the Beavers is that they have the third-best turnover margin in the league at 2.20.
Minot State is led by third-year head coach Mike Brandt. He came to Minot State after being an associate head coach at SMU. Prior to that, he had 27 years of coaching experience at USC Aiken and Northeastern Junior College. He has an all-time head coaching record of 531-340 which includes a record of 24-45 at Minot State going into this game against the Golden Bears.
UMARY SERIES HISTORY
Series History: Concordia-St. Paul 15, UMary 7
CSP has won eight of the last 10 matchups against the Marauders. That includes a five-game win streak from 2013-2017 and the last three matchups against UMary in 2020, 2022 and 2023. The Golden Bears are 9-1 at home against UMary with the lone home loss coming in 2009.
LAST MEETING WITH THE MARAUDERS
Concordia-St. Paul defeated UMary 58-49 on Jan. 28, 2023, in the Gangelhoff Center. After trailing by two points at halftime, the Golden Bears outscored UMary 17-8 in the third quarter and then 25-23 in the fourth quarter.
Concordia shot an astounding 27-28 from the free throw line in the contest. This helped them win the game despite shooting 14-57 from the field. The Golden Bears held UMary to 16-57 shooting from the field.
Gietzel led the Golden Bears with 16 points, eight of which came at the free throw line. She added nine rebounds, three assists and a block to her stat sheet. Shaw had a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds shooting 5-11 from the field. Dengerud went 10-10 from the free throw line for all her points in the game.
UMary was led by now-graduated Megan Voit with nine points and six rebounds. Addison Rozell had a team-high nine rebounds with six points. Megan Zander scored eight points and Ryleigh Wacha had seven.
ABOUT THE MARAUDERS
UMary comes into the contest on a three-game winning streak over Bemidji State, Dickinson State (N.D.) and Valley City State (N.D.). All three games were played before the holiday break. The Marauders play Minnesota Duluth on Friday before Concordia-St. Paul on Saturday.
UMary is led by graduate forward Lexie Schneider, who was named the NSIC Player of the Week the first week of the season. She leads the NSIC in scoring as she averages 19.9 points per game. Schneider is also the conference's leading rebounder with 9.4 per game. She leads the Marauders in assists with 2.4 per game which is 16th in the NSIC.
Mariah McKeever is averaging 12.5 points per game in her first season with UMary after transferring from MSU Moorhead. She leads the team in steals per game averaging 1.4. Zander is averaging 11.6 points and 5.3 rebounds in her graduate season. Rozell and Wacha round out the starting lineup for the Marauders. They are both in their junior seasons with Rozell averaging 3.5 points per game and Wacha averaging 3.4.
UMary is fifth in the conference in scoring offense averaging 68.4 points per game and eighth in defensive scoring giving up 63.7 points per game. They have the sixth-best margin in the NSIC. The Marauders have the fourth-highest 3-point percentage in the NSIC shooting 32.7%. They are also fourth in rebounding averaging 39.8 per game.
The Marauders are led by head coach Rick Neumann who is in his 12th season with the program. His best season was in 2019-20 when the Marauders went 22-11. He has an all-time record of 169-153 with a conference record of 121-114 at UMary.
