ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Golden Bear women's basketball team (3-0) won its home opener against Truman State (Mo.) (2-1) on Friday night, 68-57. CSP capitalized in the middle quarters, outscoring the Bulldogs 47-26 in the second and third quarters to secure the victory. 

Concordia's bench shined, outscoring Truman State's 40-5 in the contest. Sophomore forward Lauren Wilson scored 13, senior guard Mikayla Kanenwisher scored 10, Emma Mommsen scored nine and Ashley Schuelke scored eight all off the bench. Starting guard Leah Dengerud was CSP's leading scorer with 14 points. 

The Golden Bears started the game slow missing their first 11 shots before Dengerud made a 3-pointer at the 5:34 mark to trail 5-3. Kanenwisher executed an impressive backdoor cut layup through the Bulldogs' zone defense with six seconds left to lead 13-12 at the end of the quarter. 

Leading 27-26 in the second quarter, Concordia made its first big run of the game outscoring Truman 8-0 in the final 2:08 of play in the first half. Mommsen scored five out of the eight points for the Golden Bears during this stretch to lead at halftime, 35-26. 

CSP kept that momentum rolling in the second half with a 10-0 run midway through the third quarter and won the quarter 25-12. With two seconds remaining in the quarter, Truman's Bryar Duwe was falling out of bounds after a steal and threw the ball to Mommsen, who put it in for a buzzer-beating layup. CSP led 60-38 at the end of the quarter.

The final quarter of play was drastically different from the previous two for CSP as they opened it shooting 0-14 and didn't make a field goal for the first 7:24. Leading 62-55 with 2:39 left, Wilson missed a layup but got an offensive rebound and a putback for CSP's first basket. 

On the following possession, Wilson made another layup after a block by senior Lindsey Becher to lead by 11. Concordia-St. Paul was able to run the clock out from there and get a couple of free throws by senior guard Lydia Haack to secure the win. 

Dengerud shot 4-7 from behind the arc for her team-leading 14 points. She also tied Haack for the team-high in steals with three and added an assist. This was a season-high for her and the second time she's reached double digits in points this season.

Wilson shot 4-10 from the field and 5-6 from the charity stripe to finish with 13 points, tallying a season-high. The sophomore also added three assists and five rebounds to her totals. 

Kanenwisher's 10 points came off of 3-5 shooting from the field and 2-4 on 3-pointers. She also had three assists, two steals and two rebounds. Mommsen's nine points tied her career-high from last season's Bemidji State game. She led the team in blocks with two and had four rebounds. 

Schuelke finished with eight points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals. She had the best +/- in the game at +25. Becher scored six points with a team-high 11 rebounds. She also had two steals, an assist and a block. 

Haack scored four points and totaled eight rebounds. She led the team in assists with five. Senior forward Megan Gamble scored four points with 10 rebounds and a block. Gamble is averaging 9.3 rebounds through three games this season.

CSP crashed the offensive glass hard, grabbing 23 offensive rebounds in the contest compared to six for the Bulldogs. Concordia outrebounded Truman 52-33 in the contest. Truman State also had 24 turnovers compared to 19 for the Golden Bears. 

Concordia outscored Truman State 23-9 off of turnovers, 36-22 in the paint and 12-6 on second-chance points. CSP shot 24-71 (33.8%) in the game compared to 20-50 (40%) by Truman. The Golden Bears shot 17-34 (50%) in the second and third quarters.

Reigning GLVC Player of the Week Molly Joyce scored 17 points for the Bulldogs. Missouri Western transfer Jordan Cunningham tied that team-high with 17 of her own. Duwe finished with 12 points. 

This is the first 3-0 start for CSP since the 2020-21 COVID-19 season where they started 5-0 against NSIC competition. Before that, the Golden Bears last started 3-0 in the 2009-10 season. The team started 10-0 that year. 

The Golden Bears are back in action in the Gangelhoff Center on Saturday at 3 p.m. against Maryville (Mo.) (1-2). The Saints lost to Winona State (2-1) 62-60 on Friday night.