ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (17-7, 13-6 NSIC) is in action for their last road weekend of the season. The Golden Bears face UMary (17-9, 13-5 NSIC) in a pivotal conference matchup on Friday before playing Minot State (8-19, 5-13 NSIC) on Saturday.
LAST TIME OUT
Concordia-St. Paul went 1-1 this weekend with an emphatic win over Sioux Falls before collapsing against Southwest Minnesota State on Saturday. The highlight of the weekend was junior center Lindsey Becher reaching 1,000 career points with a season-high performance in the loss to the Mustangs.
Becher scored 17 points with five rebounds and a season-high five blocks in CSP's Friday win against Sioux Falls. The Golden Bears used an 18-4 third-quarter advantage to get the 68-54 win over the Cougars. Concordia-St. Paul held Sioux Falls to 2-16 shooting from the field in the third quarter.
Redshirt freshman forward Lauren Wilson tied Becher with 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds along with a season-high six assists. She shot 6-10 from the field, 2-2 from behind the arc and 3-4 from the free throw line. Junior guard Mikayla Kanenwisher scored 11 points with a season-high nine rebounds and three assists.
Becher scored a season-high 28 points in CSP's 76-75 loss against Southwest Minnesota State on Saturday. The Golden Bears were outscored 51-37 in the second half as the Mustangs chipped away at CSP's 13-point halftime lead.
Down by one, the Golden Bears had a couple of chances down the stretch to reclaim the lead. Becher was stripped going up on her first shot with 39 seconds left. Following a stop by CSP, Becher had one last chance on a wild attempt of a jump shot that hit off the side of the backboard.
Becher finished the game with five rebounds, three assists and two blocks. Wilson tallied 18 points grabbing six rebounds and three assists. Kanenwisher finished with a career-high 13 assists with eight points, four rebounds and two blocks.
SEASON LEADERS
After not playing the last six games, senior guard Ally Gietzel still leads the Golden Bears averaging 17.2 points per game which is fifth in the NSIC. She's averaging a team-high 6.8 rebounds per game as well, which is seventh in the conference.
Becher is averaging 13.5 points per game putting her at 12th in the NSIC. She's second in the conference in blocks averaging 2.4 per game. That number is behind Nicole Hernandez of Minnesota Crookston averaging 2.5 per game. Becher is fourth in field goal percentage in the NSIC shooting 48.3% and tied for 13th in rebounding grabbing 6.1 per game.
Wilson's averaging 13 points per game with 5.1 rebounds per game and has now bumped her assist total to 1.9 per game. Kanenwisher is now fourth in the NSIC averaging 3.4 assists per game.
MILESTONES
Becher stands at 1,011 total career points after her performances this weekend, which is 28th all-time on the CSP scoring list. She is nearing triple digits with 95 assists and 94 steals in her career as well.
IN THE NSIC STANDINGS
Minnesota State clinched the regular season conference championship this weekend an 18-1 NSIC record. There is a tight race for the other three first-round conference tournament byes. Northern State, UMary and Southwest Minnesota State are all tied for second place with 13-5 NSIC records.
Concordia-St. Paul is tied for fifth place with Minnesota Duluth with a 13-6 conference record. St. Cloud State falls just behind in seventh place with a 12-6 NSIC record. Six teams are one game apart in the race for second place in the NSIC.
UMARY SERIES HISTORY
Series History: Concordia-St. Paul 15, UMary 8
The Golden Bears have won seven out of the last 10 matchups against the Marauders. CSP's longest win streak against UMary is five games from 2013-17. Concordia is 5-5 all-time in Bismarck against UMary.
LAST MEETING WITH THE MARAUDERS
Concordia-St. Paul lost its fourth game of the season against UMary on Jan. 6, 2024. The Golden Bears had two final chances on shots from Gietzel. Her first shot rimmed out and her 3-pointer to tie the game was blocked by Lexie Schneider.
The Golden Bears led the entire first half, with UMary only tying the game at 11-11 in the second quarter. The Marauders then came alive in the second half shooting 7-12 from behind the arc after shooting 2-7 in the first half.
Gietzel scored 27 points playing all 40 minutes of the game. She scored 22 of the first 32 points for CSP. The senior led the team with seven rebounds, three assists and three steals. Wilson scored 12 points and junior forward Megan Gamble finished with eight points.
Schneider scored a team-high 19 points with eight rebounds and three assists for the Marauders. Senior guard Megan Zander added 17 points for UMary. The Marauders made four more 3-pointers than the Golden Bears.
ABOUT THE MARAUDERS
UMary comes into this game after going 1-1 this past weekend losing to St. Cloud State 58-45 and then beating MSU Moorhead 87-54. Before the loss to the Huskies, UMary had won four straight games.
The Marauders are led by five-time NSIC Player of the Week Lexie Schneider. She leads the NSIC averaging 20.1 points per game, averaging 9.1 rebounds per game and shooting 53.9% from the field. She leads the team in assists averaging 2.5 per game.
Zander is averaging 12.5 points and 2.2 assists per game. Senior guard Mariah McKeever averages 12.2 points along with 2.2 assists per game. Junior Ryleigh Wacha is averaging 4.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and two assists per game.
UMary has the third-highest-scoring offense in the NSIC averaging 69.3 points per game. They have the sixth-best defense giving up 61.7 points per game. This gives them the second-best scoring margin in the league at 7.6 points per game.
The Marauders average the second-most offensive rebounds in the NSIC with 12.1 per game behind Minnesota State averaging 16.8. UMary has the best rebounding margin in the conference at +5.5 because they give up the least amount of combined opponent rebounds.
Rick Neumann is the head coach for UMary and is in his 12th season with the program. He has an all-time record of 178-155 with a conference record of 130-117. He became the second-winningest coach in program history with his win over CSP earlier this season.
MINOT STATE SERIES HISTORY
Series History: Concordia-St. Paul 9, Minot State 3
The Golden Bears won the first four matchups against the Beavers between 2013-15. Concordia-St. Paul is 5-3 in the last eight games against Minot State and 2-3 all-time on the road.
LAST MEETING WITH THE BEAVERS
Concordia-St. Paul defeated Minot State 58-39 on Dec. 5. The Golden Bears were led by Becher with a double-double scoring 16 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. CSP held Minot State to 17 points in the second half which included holding them scoreless for 6:32 and without a field goal for 10:37.
After a defensive first three quarters, CSP shot 7-17 in the fourth quarter to score 17 points. The Golden Bears held a 24-point lead with less than a minute left before Minot State scored five points to cut the final down to 19.
Becher shot 8-16 from the field. Gietzel scored 10 points with seven rebounds, three blocks and two assists. Kanenwisher finished with seven points and two assists. Redshirt freshman forward Emma Mommsen scored seven points and senior forward Jalyn Shaw scored five points.
Minot State was led by sophomore guard Vilborg Jonsdottir off the bench with nine points. Junior guard Sydney Gustavsson scored eight points with four rebounds and two steals.
ABOUT THE BEAVERS
Minot State is on a four-game losing streak coming into this weekend. They fell 57-54 against St. Cloud State on Sunday. The Beavers' last win came against Wayne State on Jan. 27, which was the end of a three-game winning streak for Minot State.
Gustavsson leads the Beavers averaging 12.6 points per game. She's shooting 40.7% from the field. The junior averages 3.5 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.4 steals per game. Sophomore guards Taylor Goss and Jaime Skeggs average seven points per game each.
Jonsdottir leads the Beavers in assists averaging three per game. Sophomore forward Lorelai McIver is averaging 4.3 rebounds per game to lead Minot State in that category.
Minot State is 12th in both scoring offense and scoring defense in the NSIC. They have the worst margin in the conference at -8.5. They are at the bottom or near the bottom in every statistical team category except for turnover margin, of which they are fifth because they get the sixth most steals in the NSIC averaging 7.67 per game.
The Beavers are led by third-year head coach Mike Brandt, who joined the program after being an associate head coach at SMU. Prior to that, he had 27 years of coaching experience at USC Aiken and Northeastern Junior College. He has a 28-53 record as the head coach of Minot State and a career record of 535-348.
