ST. PAUL, Minn. - Ally Gietzel scored 27 out of the 57 points for the Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (10-4, 6-3 NSIC) but it came up just short in the end as CSP fell to UMary, 60-57 (10-6, 6-2 NSIC). Gietzel had two chances to tie the game in the final seconds, but had her first opportunity under the basket rim out and a 3-pointer blocked by Lexie Schneider the following possession at the buzzer.
Trailing by five points with 4:32 left, UMary went on a 7-1 run to take the lead 56-55 lead. CSP redshirt freshman forward Lauren Wilson made an and-one layup with 1:28 left in the contest to retake the lead 57-56. After missing the free throw, UMary answered with a go-ahead 3-pointer by Addison Rozell to take a 59-57 lead with 1:03 left.
After a moving screen by Wilson with 45.3 left, the Golden Bears were forced to make a stop as the Marauders ran out the shot clock. Gietzel blocked a shot by Mariah McKeever at the shot clock buzzer, but lost the ball out of bounds. After some debate, it was ruled the shot clock ran out before Gietzel had possession, which gave CSP the opportunity to take a shot to tie.
The Golden Bears led for the entire first half, taking a 7-0 lead to start the game. CSP extended the lead to 11-4 before UMary's Riley Wacha responded by scoring five consecutive points to end the quarter. The seven-point first quarter lead was the largest by any team for the entire game.
After UMary tied the at 11-11 in the second quarter, the Golden Bears responded with a 5-0 run. The Golden Bears ended the first half with a 24-20 lead with Gietzel scoring 17 of CSP's 24 points.
UMary exploded from behind the arc in the second half shooting 7-12 on 3-pointers after going 2-7 in the first half. The Marauders took their first lead in the game with 6:09 left in the third quarter off of a layup by Megan Zander. The Marauders went 6-9 on 3-point attempts from 3:35 in the third quarter to the end of the game, with two of those attempts blocked by the Golden Bears.
Gietzel finished with 27 points playing all 40 minutes of the game shooting 11-20 from the field. She accounted for 22 of CSP's first 32 points up until 4:54 in the third quarter. She finished with a team-high seven rebounds, a team-high three assists, and a team-high three steals. The 27 points tied her second-highest point total of the season when she scored the same amount of points against Southwest Minnesota State.
Wilson finished with 12 points shooting 6-9 from the field. Junior forward Megan Gamble shot 3-4 from the field scoring eight points. Junior guard Mikayla Kanenwisher finished with six points all of which came from behind the arc.
UMary was led by Schneider with 19 points, who is the reigning NSIC Player of the Week. This was on par with her 20.7 ppg NSIC-leading average this season. She also tallied a team-high eight rebounds. Zander finished with 17 points for the Marauders.
UMary finished shooting 9-19 from behind the arc compared to 5-18 for the Golden Bears. The Marauders shot 13-16 from the free throw line while the Golden Bears shot 6-13. The Golden Bears finished shooting 45.1% from the field and the Marauders finished shooting 41.3%.
CSP outscored UMary in the paint 32-18 and off of turnovers 16-6. The game featured seven lead changes and four ties. The Golden Bears held the lead for 28:08 compared to 8:50 for the Marauders.
This marked UMary's first win in the Gangelhoff Center since 2009. CSP is 9-2 all-time at home against UMary. The loss puts Concordia in a tie for third place in the conference standings while UMary continues to be tied for second place. The Marauders have won five straight games.
The Golden Bears have a mid-week matchup on Wednesday against St. Cloud State (7-5, 4-4 NSIC) on the road. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Halenbeck Hall.
