ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (10-4, 6-3 NSIC) is on the road to play against St. Cloud State (7-5, 4-4 NSIC) on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. 

LAST TIME OUT

The Golden Bears defeated Minot State 58-39 on Friday, Jan. 5, and then lost to UMary on Saturday, Jan. 6, 60-57. 

CSP used a strong second half to defeat Minot State on Friday holding the Beavers to 17 points in the second half. Minot State was scoreless for 6:32 in the second half and held without a field goal for 10:37. They shot 6-28 in the second half. 

The Golden Bears were led by junior forward Lindsey Becher with a double-double posting 16 points and 12 rebounds. Senior guard Ally Gietzel scored 10 points while tallying seven rebounds. 

The 39 points allowed tied for the lowest total that CSP has given up in a game this season. Concordia held Minot State to 15-56 shooting in the game and outrebounded the Beavers 51-36.

Against UMary on Saturday, the Golden Bears took an early 7-0 lead and didn't relinquish it until the Marauders took the lead with 6:09 left in the third quarter. The game was back and forth from that point on, with CSP missing the last two game-tying attempts to end the game. 

UMary exploded from behind the arc in the second half shooting 7-12 on 3-pointers making six of their last nine to finish the contest. UMary also finished shooting 13-16 from the charity stripe while CSP shot 6-13.

Gietzel finished with 27 points playing all 40 minutes and she accounted for 22 of the team's first 32 points in the game. She also led the team in all other statistical categories with seven rebounds, three assists and three steals. Redshirt freshman forward Lauren Wilson finished with 12 points shooting 6-9 from the field.

UMary was led by Lexie Schneider with 19 points and Megan Zander with 17 points. This was UMary's first win in the Gangelhoff Center since 2009 and dropped CSP to 9-2 all-time at home against the Marauders. 

SEASON LEADERS

Gietzel leads the Golden Bears in scoring averaging 17.3 points per game which is fifth in the NSIC. She leads the team averaging 7.1 rebounds per game which is eighth in the NSIC and 2.6 assists per game which is 11th in the NSIC. Gietzel leads the NSIC in minutes per game averaging 37.4 which is also fifth in the nation.

Becher is averaging 12 points per game for the Golden Bears with 5.5 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game. She is second in the NSIC in blocks per game and 15th in points per game. Wilson is averaging 11.4 points per game which is 25th in the NSIC. Sophomore guard Leah Dengerud is scoring 8.1 points per game while leading the Golden Bears in steals per game averaging 1.6. 

The Golden Bears have the third-best scoring defense in the NSIC giving up an average of 60.4 points per game. They have the sixth-best scoring offense averaging 66.3 points per game. CSP also has the second-best team field goal percentage in the league making 43% of its shots. 

IN THE NSIC STANDINGS

With the third conference loss of the season, Concordia-St. Paul fell to a four-way tie for fifth place in the conference standings with Minnesota Duluth, Minnesota Crookston and MSU Moorhead. 

Minnesota State leads the conference standings with a 7-1 conference record and a 10-4 overall record. Southwest Minnesota State, Northern State and UMary are in a three-way tie for second place with two conference losses. 

ST. CLOUD STATE STATE SERIES HISTORY

Series History: St. Cloud State 21, Concordia-St. Paul 17

The Golden Bears enter this game with the Huskies losing the last four matchups. CSP's last win was in 2019 in a 63-50 victory in the Gangelhoff Center. CSP is 4-6 in the last ten matchups and 7-9 on the road all-time against St. Cloud State. 

LAST MEETING WITH THE HUSKIES

The Golden Bears played St. Cloud State once last season losing 69-49 in the Gangelhoff Center on Jan. 7, 2023. After being tied 8-8 early on, St. Cloud State went on a 9-0 run to end the first quarter. The Golden Bears kept it close throughout the contest until the Huskies pulled away in the fourth quarter outsourcing CSP 24-12.

Jalyn Shaw and Dengerud both led the Golden Bears with 12 points each. Gietzel and Raegan Alexander both tallied four rebounds. St. Cloud State was led by Jada Eggebrecht with 19 points shooting 7-13 from the field. Now graduated Katrina Theis scored 15 points and Tori Peschel tallied 17 rebounds for the Huskies.

CSP shot 16-53 (30.2%) from the field in the game compared to St. Cloud State shooting 24/50 (48.0%). St. Cloud State only made two 3-pointers, but outscored CSP in the paint 34-24. 

ABOUT THE HUSKIES

Eggebrecht leads the Huskies in scoring this season averaging 12 points per game during her sophomore season. She's also averaging 2.7 rebounds per game and 1.6 assists per game playing 29.3 minutes per game. 

Senior guard Morgan Draheim is averaging 9.4 points and a team-high 2.7 assists. She plays the second-most minutes on the team averaging 28.5. Sophomore forward Ashley Sawicki is averaging a team-high 7.3 rebounds per game with 8.7 points per game. Senior forwards Jasmine Litt and Dru Henning are averaging nine and 8.4 points per game respectively. Peschel has played in eight of SCSU's 12 games this season averaging 5.1 points, 4.8 rebounds and 25.3 minutes per game during her senior campaign. 

St. Cloud State is 5-1 at home this season with the lone loss in Halenbeck Hall to Michigan Tech on Nov. 26. The Huskies are 2-4 on the road and are coming off a pair of road losses to Sioux Falls and Southwest Minnesota State this past weekend. Before the holiday break, the Huskies pulled off a pair of wins against UMary and Bemidji State. 

The Huskies have the best scoring defense in the league only giving up an average of 60 points per game. They're scoring an average of 64.5 points per game with the best team 3-point percentage in the NSIC at 34.7%. They force the second-best turnover margin in the NSIC and the most assists per game. Thus leading to an NSIC-leading 1.07 assist/turnover ratio.

Head coach Lori Fish is in her 16th season at the helm of the St. Cloud State women's basketball program. She has the second most wins in program history with four NCAA Tournament appearances and three NSIC Championships. She comes into the game against CSP with a record of 251-168 with the Huskies.