MARSHALL, Minn. - Leah Dengerud's career-high 18 points led the No. 19 Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (9-0, 3-0 NSIC) to a 72-58 victory over Southwest Minnesota State (8-1, 2-1 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon. The Golden Bears stole the ball 14 times to outscore SMSU 22-10 off of turnovers. 

The 9-0 start marks the third-best in program history, surpassing 1975-76's 8-0 start. CSP will have a chance to tie 2009-10's 10-0 start on Friday, Dec. 13 against Wayne State (4-3, 1-2 NSIC). 2007-08's 18-0 record is the best in program history. 

Concordia trailed 34-30 at halftime after SMSU made four 3-pointers in the final 3:18 of the first half. The Golden Bears came out firing in the second half on a 15-2 run aided by seven Mustang turnovers. This is CSP's second straight game starting the second half on a run after a 9-0 start against Sioux Falls on Friday night. 

Junior guard Lydia Haack had four steals during the third-quarter run. Dengerud added five points during the run and helped start it with a 3-pointer. CSP went on to outscore SMSU 24-15 in the quarter behind eight total points from Dengerud and seven points each from Lindsey Becher and Julia Bengtson. 

CSP maintained and continually extended the lead in the fourth quarter, outscoring SMSU 18-9. The final 14-point lead marked the largest of the game by either team. Concordia held the Mustangs to 2-14 (14.3%) shooting in the final quarter. 

The Golden Bears ended up outscoring SMSU 42-24 in the second half holding the Mustangs to a total of 7-24 (29.2%) from the field and 1-9 (11.1%) from behind the arc. Nine of CSP's 14 steals were in the second half. 

Bengtson opened the game scoring the first four points after a pair of steals. The Mustangs then went on an 11-0 run, which ended up being their best of the game. CSP responded with a 7-0 run capped off by a Dengerud 3-pointer. 

The first quarter ended with excitement. Sophomore center Emma Mommsen played stout defense on SMSU's final possession, forcing a missed shot by Peyton Blandin with six seconds left. Megan Gamble grabbed the rebound and threw an outlet pass to Ashley Schuelke. Schuelke found a cherry-picking Mommsen underneath the hoop for the buzzer-beater to tie the game at 13-13. 

Dengerud's 18 points beat her previous career-high of 17 last season against Minnesota Crookston. She shot 7-14 from the field making three 3-pointers. The junior guard also grabbed six rebounds with three assists and a steal. 

Becher finished with 15 points and a team-high nine rebounds, one short of her third straight double-double. She blocked three shots on the day. Bengtson scored 13 points with a career-high four steals. This is her second-best point total of the season after she scored a career-high 28 points on Friday night. 

Haack finished with 10 points, seven rebounds and three assists. She also stole the ball a career-high six times. This beat her previous best of five steals, which was also against SMSU in 2021 when Haack played for Upper Iowa. She ties for the 13th-most steals in a game in school history. 

Gamble tallied seven points, nine rebounds and tied a career-high with five assists. This marks her fourth career game with five assists. Gamble and Dengerud were both a team-high +21 on the court. 

Schuelke finished with five points and two steals. Mommsen and Mikayla Kanenwisher each tallied two points and two rebounds. 

The Golden Bears held SMSU's Bri Stoltzman to four total points in the game. The senior guard came into the game averaging 17.9 ppg. Blandin and Audrey Swanson each scored 13 points for SMSU and Maddie Thorfinnson added 12. 

Concordia outscored the Mustangs 36-22 in the paint, 10-6 on second-chance points and 14-5 on fast breaks. CSP shot 25-66 (37.9%) from the field while SMSU shot 19-57 (33.3%). 

CSP only turned the ball over 10 times, which marks a new season-low after only having 11 on Friday night vs. Sioux Falls. Southwest Minnesota State turned the ball over 18 times. Concordia's 14 steals were the second-highest in a game this season behind the Truman State victory on Nov. 15. 

The Golden Bears are back in action in the Gangelhoff Center this upcoming weekend against Wayne State and Augustana (1-7, 0-3 NSIC). Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. vs. the Wildcats on Friday and 3:30 p.m. vs. the Vikings on Saturday.