ST. PAUL, Minn. - The No. 21 Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (15-2, 9-2 NSIC) outscored Minnesota Crookston (6-11, 4-7 NSIC) 34-16 in the final 14 minutes of play to pick up an 81-69 win on Friday night. Lydia Haack, Leah Dengerud and Lindsey Becher each finished scoring double digits. 

Trailing 60-59 in the fourth quarter, senior guard Julia Bengtson hit back-to-back 3-pointers from opposite corners to give the Golden Bears a five-point lead. This sparked an 11-0 run for CSP to take a 70-60 lead. Concordia was able to seal the win after outscoring the Golden Eagles 12-10 in the final six minutes. 

Both teams were tied 19-19 after the opening quarter. CSP used an early 8-0 run in the second quarter to take a 27-19 lead before UMC responded with an 8-0 run to tie the game at 29-29. After trailing by 38-33, Dengerud hit a 3-pointer and Megan Gamble made a putback layup in the final 1:11 to tie the game at 38-38 at halftime. 

Minnesota Crookston shot 14-27 (51.9%) in the first half, marking their best shooting first half of the season and fourth-best half overall. UMC's previous best first half was 14-30 (46.6%) against Pittsburg State on Nov. 9, 2024. The Golden Eagle's best half overall was the second half vs. St. Cloud State on Dec. 7, 2024, where they shot 14-25 (56%). 

The Golden Eagles used an early 9-2 run to take a 47-40 lead early in the third quarter. CSP responded with a 7-0 run to tie the game with Haack scoring five of the seven points, including an and-1 layup. 

Crookston's Emma Miller then hit back-to-back 3-pointers to extend the Golden Eagle lead back to seven. Concordia-St. Paul responded with a 10-0 run to take a 57-53 lead, holding UMC scoreless for 4:04 until Riley Jenkins hit a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left. That cut the Golden Bear lead to 57-56 heading into the final quarter. 

Haack led the Golden Bears in scoring with 18 points, all of which came in the second half after she picked up two fouls early in the first half. She also added three assists to her totals while shooting 6-13 (46.2%) from the field. 

Dengerud finished with 17 points shooting 6-11 (54.5%) from the field and 3-6 (50%) from behind the arc. She was all over the court defensively with two steals. Dengerud also grabbed five rebounds and dished out two assists. 

Becher scored 12 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to pick up her fifth double-double of the season and 13th of her career. She dished out a season-high four assists and blocked three shots. 

Lauren Wilson finished with nine points, all of which came in the first half. She also grabbed four rebounds and tied her season-high in steals with three. Mikayla Kanenwisher scored eight points playing extended minutes after Haack's early foul trouble. She tied the team-high in assists with four and stole the ball a season-high four times. 

Ashley Schuelke added seven points including a late 3-pointer to help seal the game. Bengtson finished with six points going 2-2 (100%) from behind the arc. Emma Mommsen and Gamble tallied two points. Every Golden Bear that played in the game scored. 

Minnesota Crookston was led by Miller with a game-high 27 points shooting 10-20 (50%) from the field and 5-8 (62.5%) from behind the arc. She finished the game 1-7 from the field after hitting the back-to-back 3-pointers in the third quarter. Miller played all 40 minutes in the game adding four assists to her totals. 

Jenkins scored 16 points after shooting 4-6 (66.7%) from behind the arc. Nicole Hernandez added nine points, seven rebounds, three blocks and three assists. 

Minnesota Crookston finished shooting 25-58 (43.1%) from the field, the second-highest percentage CSP has allowed this season. The Golden Eagles shot 11-23 (47.8%) from behind the arc, which is the highest percentage CSP has allowed this season. 

The Golden Bears shot 29-68 (42.6%) from the field and 9-19 (47.4%) from behind the arc. That ties CSP's third-best three-point percentage this season. Concordia finished 14-17 (82.4%) from the free-throw line compared to 8-8 (100%) by UMC. 

CSP outscored UMC 36-16 in the paint, 16-12 off of turnovers, 12-3 on second-chance points and 26-10 on bench points. The Golden Bears had 10 fewer turnovers than Minnesota Crookston, eight more assists and three more rebounds. CSP scored 19 points each of the first three quarters. 

The 9-0 home start ties 2002-03 for the fourth-best home start since 1999-2000. The current 10-game home winning streak dating back to last season is sixth since 1999-2000. 

CSP remains tied for second place in the NSIC after No. 23 Southwest Minnesota State (15-2, 9-2 NSIC) picked up an 82-72 victory over Northern State (10-7, 7-4 NSIC) on Friday night. No. 10 Minnesota State (16-2, 12-0 NSIC) remains in first place after defeating MSU Moorhead (6-11, 4-7 NSIC). 

The Golden Bears are back in action on Saturday evening against Bemidji State (4-11, 2-9 NSIC) at 5:30 p.m. in the Gangelhoff Center. The Beavers fell to Minnesota Duluth (6-10, 4-7 NSIC) on Friday night, 74-60.