ST. PAUL, Minn. — The No. 11th-ranked Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team gets its 2025-26 season underway Thursday night with an exhibition contest against St. Kate's. Tip off is set for 6 p.m. at the Gangelhoff Center. 

Purchase tickets in advance online
Fans are highly encouraged to purchase tickets online at cspbears.com/tickets prior to game day. All ticketed events for the 25-26 academic year will utilize the Vivenu online ticket platform found at that link and fans must scan a mobile ticket to enter. Tickets will still be sold on site on game day but purchases are card-only and include additional fees. The best way for fans to make their game day entry as smooth as possible is to purchase tickets online in advance. CSP Students, Faculty and Staff will be able to download their free passes through Vivenue.

Download the app 
Fans can download the CSP Bears fan app, free of charge and available in the App Store or on Google Play. The app contains rosters, schedules, scores, stats, news, social media and more! Customize your options to get notifications to your favorite teams, as well. Search "CSP Bears" in the app store to stay up-to-date on Golden Bear athletics.

Golden Bears in the polls
The WBCA released its NCAA Division II Preseason Coaches' Poll on Tuesday afternoon, the Golden Bears are ranked 11th ahead of the 2025-26 season. CSP received 261 points in the preseason poll, after finishing last season with a 29-3 record and a trip to the NCAA Tournament, ending the season ranked 13th in the final WBCA poll. 

Concordia finished the season ranked for the first time since the 2013-14 season, while also finishing the season as the highest ranked team in the NSIC. 

The Golden Bears climbed as high as 11th last season, after winning both the NSIC Regular Season and Tournament Championships for the first time since 2008. 

This is the third time in program history CSP has opened the season ranked in the WBCA Preseason Coaches' Poll and first since opening the 2013-14 season as the no. 9th-ranked team. 

Last season 
The Golden Bears went 29-3 last season en route to an NSIC Championship and an NCAA Tournament appearance. CSP's season came to an end with a 64-77 loss to Southwest Minnesota State in NCAA Central Region Quarterfinal in Pittsburg, Kansas. 

Lydia Haack led the way for the Golden Bears, the junior guard averaged 16.8 points per game, 4.8 rebounds per game and 1.7 steals per game, while averaging 30.7 minutes per game. Lindsey Becher played in and started 32 games, the senior averaged 13.3 points, 7.5 boards per game and 3.0 blocks per game. 

Ashley Shuelke averaged 7.8 points off the bench, while shooting 43.9% from the field. Leah Dengerud averaged 9.5 points per game and shot a team leading 39.7 % from beyond-the-arc. 

On Defense the Golden Bears limited opponents to a conference best 59.6 points per game, while leading the NSIC in blocked shots with 179, an average of 5.59 a game. On Offense CSP finished third in the NSIC, averaging 70.0 points per game. 

St. Kate's preview 
The Wildcats went 13-12 last year with a conference record of 8-10, to finish eighth in the MIAC and missing out on a spot in the conference tournament. 

Sophomore guard Hattie Fox was the Wildcats leading scorer, Fox averaged 13.8 points per game. On defense Fox averaged 6.0 boards and 1.7 steals per game. 

Guard Jordyn Peed shot a team leading 44.3% from the field and 33% from three, to average 8.8 points per game. Emme Golembiewski led the team in rebounds averaging 7.7 per game while also averaging 2.0 blocks per game. 

The Golden Bears defeated the Wildcats 88-43 in last season's exhibition matchup at the Gangelhoff Center. CSP used a 29 point second quarter to take a commanding 45-16 lead into the half, when it was all said and done 14 different players found the scoresheet. 

Mikayla Kanenwisher dropped 16 points to finish as Concordia's leading scorer, Ashley Schuelke tallied 11 points, Julia Bengston and Ella Campbell each scored 8 points. As a team the Golden Bears shot 44.9% from the field and 40.6% from three. 

Lily Peper led the Wildcats with 11 points while Hattie Fox and Greta Schimnowski scored 9 points each. The Concordia defense held St. Kate's to a 28.3% clip from the field on 53 shot attempts. 
 

WBCA NCAA Division II Preseason Coaches Poll — 10/28/2025

Dropped Out: No. 17 Alaska Anchorage (28-5); No. 21 Lewis (26-4)); No. 25 Point Loma Nazarene (25-6).

Others receiving votes: West Texas A&M (19-13) 64; Point Loma Nazarene (25-6) 59; Western Washington (18-11) 58; Fayetteville State (21-8) 54; Alaska Anchorage (28-5) 53; Indiana (PA) (23-8) 52; Clark Atlanta (24-8) 50; Northern Michigan (23-9) 49; Lewis (26-4) 46; Miles (22-7) 31; Drury (22-7)  30; Lee (TN) (25-7) 30; Belmont Abbey (25-6) 28; Vanguard U. (18-8) 27; Daemen (22-8) 26; Adams State (19-12) 24; Washburn (18-13) 21; Malone (22-8) 20; Ferris State (21-12) 19; Central Washington (23-8) 16; Southern Nazarene (23-8) 13; Colorado-Colorado Springs (19-12) 8; Cal State Chico (24-8) 2.