BISMARCK, N.D. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (18-7, 14-6 NSIC) held UMary (17-10, 13-6 NSIC) to 16-47 (34.0%) from the field and caused a season-high 26 turnovers in Friday's 53-46 victory against the Marauders. The Golden Bears outscored UMary 17-7 off of turnovers and 26-14 in the paint.

After only scoring 18 points in the first half, CSP almost doubled that scoring production in the third quarter putting up 16 points. Concordia-St. Paul outscored UMary 13-4 after trailing 26-21 to take a 34-30 lead heading into the fourth quarter. The run was sparked by a 3-pointer by redshirt freshman Lauren Wilson and a putback by senior guard Ally Gietzel in her first game back from injury since Jan. 26.

CSP started the fourth quarter on a 5-0 run off of two turnovers by the Marauders. Junior center Lindsey Becher scored in the paint which was then followed up by a 3-pointer from sophomore guard Leah Dengerud. 

The Marauders didn't go away outscoring Concordia 10-2 to get within one point with 3:49 to go. After three made free throws by the Golden Bears, Wilson made a layup in the paint to extend the lead to 45-40 with 1:59 left. CSP then finished 6-6 from the charity stripe down the stretch to get the win. 

Wilson led the team scoring 14 points and grabbing six rebounds. She drew a team-high seven fouls. Becher finished with 11 points and five rebounds. She fouled out of the game with 1:36 remaining. 

Dengerud finished with nine points and a team-high four assists. Gietzel came off the bench for the first time this season and scored seven points. She shot 5-6 from the free-throw line and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. 

Junior guard Mikayla Kanenwisher tallied a season-high three steals tying the team lead in the game with Becher. Sophomore guard Lauren Feddema scored seven points shooting 3-5 from the field. 

After shooting 0-5 from behind the arc in the first half, the Golden Bears shot 3-8 in the second half. CSP trailed 19-18 at halftime with the biggest highlight of the opening half being five straight points from Feddema in the second quarter to tie the game at 14-14. 

The Marauders were led by five-time NSIC Player of the Week Lexie Schneider. She finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds. The senior forward came into the game averaging an NSIC-leading 20.1 points per game. 

Schneider turned the ball over six times in the game, which tied her season-high from earlier this year against Sioux Falls on Jan. 27. She fouled out of the game with 56 seconds left. 

Megan Zander tallied 16 points as well for the Marauders. She also had a team-high five assists and five steals. Schneider and Zander were the only players to score for UMary in the first half. Ryleigh Wacha finished with 10 points, all of which came in the second half. 

The Golden Bears outscored UMary 26-14 in the paint. CSP's bench outscored UMary's bench 14-0. UMary had a slight rebound advantage of 39-37. The Golden Bears shot 14-21 from the free throw line compared to 11-21 for the Marauders. Both teams shot 34% from the field.

Concordia-St. Paul now has a half-game lead in third place on St. Cloud State, UMary and Southwest Minnesota State. St. Cloud State defeated Southwest Minnesota State 61-51 on Friday night. The Golden Bears are half a game behind Northern State in second place with a 14-5 record. 

The Golden Bears are back in action on Saturday for the last road game of the season against Minot State (9-19, 6-13 NSIC). Minot State got an upset win against Minnesota Duluth (16-8, 13-7 NSIC) on Friday night beating them 61-51. Tip-off between the Beavers and the Golden Bears is set for 3:30 p.m. in the Minot State Dome.