ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (2-0) plays its home opener against Truman State (Mo.) (2-0) in the Gangelhoff Center on Friday at 6 p.m. CSP then hosts Maryville (Mo.) (1-1) on Saturday at 3 p.m.
BUY TICKETS TO HOME GAMES ONLINE
Fans are encouraged to buy tickets in advance and bring their QR code to the gates to skip the line! Friends and families who utilize the pass list will also be utilizing the online ticketing service while all students, faculty & staff will access their free CSP tickets through the service. Fans do not need to create a login, remember a username or password or download an app to purchase tickets, and tickets can still be purchased with a credit card at the gate.
WATCH 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 opened their season in Warrensburg, Missouri picking up a pair of victories against Missouri Southern and Central Missouri. Concordia beat Missouri Southern 72-69 after Lydia Haack made a game-winning 3-pointer with 12 seconds left.
Haack scored 27 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for her fourth-career double-double. The junior guard also added an assist and a steal to her totals.
Leah Dengerud made some key plays for the Golden Bears down the stretch. She made a shot after an offensive rebound, made two free throws after a steal and assisted on the game-winning shot. Dengerud finished the game with 11 points and went 6-6 from the charity stripe.
Senior center Lindsey Becher scored 12 points with two rebounds and a steal. She went 4-7 from the field and 4-5 from the free-throw line. Senior guard Julia Bengtson scored 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Senior forward Megan Gamble grabbed nine rebounds.
Concordia-St. Paul started the Central Missouri game strong, with a 19-5 lead after the opening quarter and a 30-7 lead midway through the second quarter. CSP held Central Missouri to 9-33 from the field in the first half, helping to win the game 83-61.
Becher led the Golden Bears with her ninth double-double of her career. She scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Haack was CSP's leading scorer with 17 points while adding five rebounds and four assists.
Sophomore guard Ashley Schuelke scored 12 points shooting 4-5 on 3-pointers. Dengerud finished with nine points, three assists and two rebounds. She had a +/- of +20 for CSP.
SEASON LEADERS
Haack leads the Golden Bears averaging 22 points per game. She's also averaging 7.5 rebounds per game and a team-high three assists per game. Haack is the third-leading scorer, eighth-leading rebounder and 16th-leading assister in the NSIC.
Becher is the second-highest scorer on the team, averaging 13.5 points per game. She's also averaging six rebounds per game and two blocks per game. Becher is averaging the fourth-most blocks in the NSIC through two games.
Dengerud is averaging 10 points per game and Bengtson is averaging 8.5. Schuelke has shot the most 3-pointers with nine and has the best 3-point percentage at 44.4%. Gamble is averaging nine rebounds per game which is third in the NSIC.
NSIC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Following this weekend's performance, Haack was named NSIC Player of the Week. She was the first player in the conference to win the honor this season. This was her third overall time winning the honor after being named player of the week twice at Upper Iowa.
TRUMAN STATE SERIES HISTORY
Series Record: CSP 2, Truman State 0
The Golden Bears have beaten the Bulldogs twice with wins in 2000 and 2023. CSP picked up a 66-65 victory in the 2000 matchup with Lisa Harfield scoring 23 points and grabbing nine rebounds.
LAST MEETING WITH THE BULLDOGS
CSP faced the Bulldogs last season and needed a last-second shot to pick up the 74-72 victory. Ally Gietzel intercepted a Truman State pass with four seconds left and hit a jump shot as time expired to give the Golden Bears the victory.
Concordia led for 36:49 compared to only 17 seconds for Truman State. The Golden Bears never led by more than nine points. Every run CSP had was matched by a Truman State run, keeping the score close.
Lauren Wilson led Concordia scoring 26 points, nine of which came in the third quarter. Becher scored 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Dengerud scored 14 points with five assists and Gietzel scored 11 points with four assists.
ABOUT THE BULLDOGS
Truman State went 2-0 this past weekend beating Cedarville (Ohio), 74-61, and Ursuline (Ohio), 81-60. The Bulldogs picked up an exhibition win against William Woods (Mo.) and played another exhibition game against Missouri.
The Bulldogs went 7-21 (4-18 GLVC) last season, failing to make the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament. They lost their leading scorer, Ellie Weltha, to graduation after she averaged 17.7 ppg last season.
This season, Truman State is led by sophomore guard Molly Joyce averaging 22.5 points per game. She scored 34 points against Ursuline making six 3-pointers and shot 56% from the field. Joyce earned GLVC Player of the Week for her efforts.
Senior center Maddie Niemeier is averaging 17 points and 2.5 rebounds per game. Missouri Western transfer Jordan Cunningham is averaging 12.5 points per game and sophomore guard Bryar Duwe is averaging 11 points per game. Duwe leads the team in rebounds per game at 5.5 and assists per game at 3.5.
Head coach Theo Dean is in his sixth season coaching the Bulldogs. He has an 84-55 record coaching the Bulldogs and last season was his first losing season at Truman State. Dean has been a part of the program in some capacity for over 10 years, as he was a student manager and graduate assistant from 2010-14 before returning to be a full-time assistant coach from 2016-19.
MARYVILLE SERIES HISTORY
Series Record: CSP 2, Maryville 0
Concordia-St. Paul has beaten the Saints twice with wins in 2015 and 2023, both in Missouri. The Golden Bears picked up a 76-72 comeback win in 2015. The Golden Bears trailed by double digits twice in the first half.
Concordia shot 12-34 (35.3%) in the first half, but then shot 18-29 (62.1%) in the second half. Mishayla Jones scored 16 points, Lauren Shifflett scored 14 points and Anna Schmitt scored 13 points in the Golden Bear victory to hand the Saints their first loss of the season that year.
LAST MEETING WITH THE SAINTS
The Golden Bears defeated Maryville 74-68 last season, controlling the game with the lead for 36:53 compared to just 54 seconds for the Saints. Every CSP run was met with a similar run to cut into the lead by Maryville, but CSP ultimately prevailed in the end.
Maryville cut the lead to 65-63 with 1:45 left, but Concordia responded by making five straight free throws. After the Saints hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 71-68, Gietzel made the final three free throws to seal the victory.
Gietzel led the Golden Bears scoring 22 points shooting 8-12 from the field. Wilson scored 14 points and had a team-high eight rebounds. Becher scored 14 points with seven rebounds and three blocks. Dengerud added 10 points with a team-high three steals.
ABOUT THE SAINTS
Maryville is 1-1 this season after an opening 75-60 loss to Parkside (Wis.) and a 76-62 win over Roosevelt (Ill.). The Saints won an exhibition game against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (SIUE) and had the opportunity to play Indiana in an exhibition game.
Last season, Maryville went 19-11 (15-7 GLVC) earning the No. 4 seed in the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament. The Saints won their first game vs. Illinois Springfield before losing to No. 1 seed and eventual conference champion Lewis in the semifinals.
The Saints lost First Team All-GLVC guard Carsyn Fearday to graduation. Fearday scored over 1,000 points in her career and averaged 14.9 points last season. She was the leading scorer against CSP last season with 19 points.
This season, Maryville is led by senior guards Gracie Stugart and Claire Rake each averaging 12 points per game. Stugart leads Maryville in minutes averaging 36.5 per game and in assists averaging 7.5 per game. She's shooting 35.3% from the field and 3-4 (75%) from behind the arc.
Senior forward Faith Hawthorne leads the Saints in rebounds averaging 9.5 per game. Sophomore guard Annika Pluyemer is averaging the second-most minutes for the Saints at 28.5 per game and is scoring 10 points per game.
Head coach Brita Hand is in her third season with Maryville recording a 34-25 record with the Saints. She was previously a head coach at Briar Cliff and has a 69-49 overall record after five seasons as a head coach. Last season, the Saints 19 wins was their most since 2013-14.
