ST. PAUL, Minn. - The No. 25 Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (5-0) picked up a 77-60 victory over Missouri Western (2-3) on Wednesday night in the Gangelhoff Center. CSP held the Griffons to 18-57 (31.6%) shooting and outscored them 44-22 in the paint.
This was the lowest shooting percentage the Golden Bears have allowed so far this season. Concordia-St. Paul shot 30-67 (44.8%) from the field and 12-15 (80%) from the free-throw line.
Junior guard Lydia Haack led CSP with 21 points shooting 9-14 from the field. She also added two rebounds and an assist to her totals. Senior forward Lindsey Becher scored 16 points with six rebounds and two blocks.
Senior forward Megan Gamble scored nine points shooting a perfect 4-4 from the field. She also added nine rebounds, falling one point and one rebound short of her second career double-double.
Senior guard Mikayla Kanenwisher added nine points off the bench. She also had a team-high four assists and added three steals.
The Golden Bears started the game on a 7-0 run which began with a Becher and-one layup to start the game. Concordia outscored Missouri Western 16-4 in the paint to maintain a 20-13 lead at the end of the quarter. Becher scored eight of her 16 points in the opening period. -
CSP used 6-0 and 7-1 runs to extend the lead to 41-27 at halftime. Kanenwisher made Concordia's first 3-pointer of the game with 50 seconds left in the half. The senior guard also made a buzzer-beating layup on the next possession. CSP outscored MWSU 32-4 in the paint in the first half.
After the Griffons made the first bucket of the second half, CSP went on a 10-0 run highlighted by a Gamble 3-pointer which forced a timeout. This extended the Golden Bear lead to 51-29 marking their largest of the game to that point.
CSP rotated through the lineup in the fourth quarter, but Haack made the most of her minutes scoring eight points shooting 3-3 from the field and 2-2 from behind the arc. Raegan Alexander also made her season debut after being out last season due to injury.
Lauren Wilson and Julia Bengtson scored five points each. Bengtson had a team-high +/- of +31. Leah Dengerud and Ashley Schuelke added four points each with Dengerud adding six points and four steals to her totals.
Missouri Western State was led by Laura Toffali with 14 points and six rebounds. Marie Sepp scored 13 points with a team-high six assists. Jessie Ford added 11 points. The Griffons scored 17 points at the free-throw line.
CSP led for 39:48 in the contest and their biggest lead was 25 points in the fourth quarter. Concordia outscored the Griffons 11-2 on second-chance points.
The Golden Bears have the weekend off before their conference opener on Tuesday, Nov. 26 against Winona State (3-1) in the Gangelhoff Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
