ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (20-7, 16-6 NSIC) held St. Cloud State (17-9, 14-8 NSIC) scoreless for the last 6:21 and went on a 9-0 run in that timespan to win, 57-51. The game featured many runs and CSP went on the last run of it to seal the Senior Day victory.

Concordia-St. Paul held St. Cloud State to 1-13 shooting in the fourth quarter. The Golden Bears outscored the Huskies 16-4 in the quarter shooting 4-9 from the field and 7-8 at the charity stripe. 

Four scorers reached double digits for the Golden Bears. Sophomore guard Leah Dengerud and junior center Lindsey Becher each scored 13 points. Redshirt freshman forward Lauren Wilson finished with 12 points and senior guard Ally Gietzel finished with 11 points.

CSP got off to a rough start trailing 13-2 early in the game and 14-7 after the opening quarter. The Golden Bears then outscored SCSU 11-4 to start the second quarter to get their first lead of the contest at 18-16 off of a Dengerud 3-pointer. 

The Huskies then responded with an 11-0 run of their own to take a 27-18 lead and eventually a 31-24 halftime advantage. Senior forward Jasmine Litt scored 16 points in the first half for St. Cloud State shooting a tremendous 6-6 from the field.

The Golden Bears came out of the halftime locker room with another run outscoring St. Cloud State 9-2, tying the game at 33-33. After a 38-38 tie, the Huskies went on their final run of the day scoring the next nine points. SCSU led 47-41 heading into the fourth after a nothing-but-net 3-pointer by Gietzel stopped the run. 

Trailing 51-48 with under five minutes remaining, Dengerud made a layup in the paint to cut the lead to one point. She then followed it up a few possessions later making two free throws with 3:18 left to give CSP the 52-51 advantage. Becher added to the run with a layup after a Wilson steal to extend CSP's lead to 54-51. The Golden Bears made 3-4 final free throws to seal the deal. 

Dengerud tallied five steals which tied her career high from the second game this season against Missouri Western State. She also put up four assists, three rebounds and a block. Becher finished with a season-high six blocks, four of which came in quick succession to start the second half. She also grabbed five rebounds and a steal. 

Wilson finished with six rebounds, four assists and a career-high four steals. Gietzel grabbed four rebounds and shot 4-4 from the free throw line. Junior guard Mikayla Kanenwisher scored eight points along with four rebounds, three steals and two assists. Dengerud, Becher, Wilson, Gietzel and Kanenwisher were the only Golden Bears to score in the contest.

The Golden Bears finished 19-51 (37.3%) from the field, 6-13 (46.2%) from behind the arc and 13-15 (86.7%) from the free throw line. The Huskies were 17-54 (31.5%) from the field, 4-16 (25%) from behind the arc and 13-14 (92.9%) from the free throw line. 

SCSU outrebounded CSP 37-33, but had one more turnover than the Golden Bears at 18-17. Concordia outscored St. Cloud State 26-18 in the paint and 19-17 off of turnovers. St. Cloud State held the lead for 33:35 in the game compared to 4:00 for the Golden Bears. 

Litt finished with 21 points for the Huskies. Senior forward Dru Henning grabbed seven rebounds with six assists while scoring five points. Sophomore Ashley Sawicki and freshman Alana Zarneke scored eight points each. 

The Golden Bears honored seniors Jalyn Shaw and Gietzel before the game. Becher was also recognized for being the 29th Golden Bear in program history to reach the 1,000-point milestone earlier this season. 

Concordia-St. Paul clinched a first-round bye in the NSIC tournament via a 70-66 loss by Southwest Minnesota State (17-11, 15-7 NSIC) to MSU Moorhead (12-15, 12-10 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon. The Golden Bears are the No. 3 seed in the NSIC Tournament after being tied with No. 2 UMary and No. 4 Northern State with 16-6 conference records.

The Golden Bears will play the winner between No. 6 Minnesota Duluth and No. 11 Sioux Falls on Wednesday, Feb. 28. Concordia-St. Paul's quarterfinal game is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Sunday, March 3 in the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.