ABERDEEN, S.D. - The No. 16 Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (13-2, 7-2 NSIC) suffered its second loss of the season on the road vs. Northern State (9-5, 6-2 NSIC), 66-60. The Golden Bears couldn't overcome a 33-22 halftime deficit where they shot 7-27 (25.9%) from the field on Saturday.
Junior guard Lydia Haack led the way for the Golden Bears with 19 points and five rebounds. Julia Bengtson added 14 points with two steals. Leah Dengerud scored nine points with a season-high five assists.
Senior center Lindsey Becher scored 14 points, 12 of which came in the second half. She also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds and blocked two shots. With the two blocks, Becher ties Kionda Nicks at 264 career blocks for the most in program history.
Megan Gamble didn't score but had a team-high four steals while dishing out three assists. Sophomore guard Ashley Schuelke added three points for the Golden Bears as well.
CSP was down 18-9 after the opening quarter shooting 3-15 (20%) from the field as a team. This was a drastic change from Concordia's first quarters in the last two games where they shot a combined 20-31 (64.5%) from the field.
In contrast, the Wolves opened the game shooting 8-16 (50%) in the first quarter. In the second quarter, Northern State kept a 15-13 advantage to lead 33-22 at halftime. The Wolves outscored CSP 16-6 in the paint in the first half.
Concordia was down by 13 in the third quarter before using a 10-2 run sparked by a Dengerud 3-pointer to cut the lead down to five points. On the next possession, Northern State's Alayna Benike hit a 3-pointer off the front of the rim and in. After that, Becher was stripped by Izzy Moore and Michaela Jewett converted for a layup to push the lead back to 10.
Despite that run by Northern State, CSP scored the final four points of the third quarter cutting the lead to 47-40 heading into the final 10 minutes. Bengtson hit free throws and a 3-pointer to extend the run to 9-0 and the Golden Bears trailed 47-45 early in the fourth.
Madelyn Bragg, Rianna Fillipi, Benike and Jewett each made tough shots down the stretch to hold CSP and keep the Golden Bears from tying the game. Leading 54-51 with 5:17 left, Northern State went on a 4-0 run where CSP went 0-3 from the field. That stretch forced CSP to start fouling early with 55 seconds left and the Wolves slowly iced the game from there.
Fillipi led the Wolves with 18 points playing all 40 minutes of the game. She shot 8-14 from the field. Moore and Bragg each added 12 points and Bragg grabbed nine rebounds. Benike scored 11 points and Jewett scored seven points while grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds.
CSP finished the game shooting 22-61 (36.1%) for the fourth-lowest mark of the season. Northern State finished the game shooting 24-57 (42.1%). The Golden Bears shot 15-34 (44.1%) in the second half. NSU outrebounded CSP 43-31 and the 31 rebounds were the lowest in a game this season for Concordia. The Golden Bears never led in the game.
Concordia-St. Paul won the turnover battle with 13 compared to Northern State's 18. Concordia was unable to make the most of those turnovers as the Wolves outscored CSP 17-12 off of turnovers. Northern State ended up outscoring Concordia 34-30 in the paint and the NSU bench outscored CSP's bench 18-4.
CSP falls two games behind Minnesota State (13-2, 9-0 NSIC) for the conference lead. The Golden Bears are one win ahead of Southwest Minnesota State (12-2, 6-2 NSIC) and Northern State (9-5, 6-2 NSIC) tied for third place.
The Golden Bears return home for the first event of the new year in the Gangelhoff Center on Wednesday, Jan. 8. CSP faces St. Cloud State (8-5, 5-3 NSIC) at 5:30 p.m. This starts a three-game home stretch for the Golden Bears as they play Minnesota Crookston (5-9, 3-5 NSIC) on Friday and Bemidji State (4-8, 2-6 NSIC) on Saturday.
