ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (5-5, 1-4)dropped another close contest at the Gangelhoff Center Sunday night, falling to Sioux Falls (7-3, 4-1), 79-77.
Down by two with less than a minute to go Lauren Feddema jumped in front of an errant Cougars pass, finishing at the other end to tie it at 77. But a late foul put Sioux Falls at the free throw line, with Alexis Rose hitting both attempts for USF.
CSP got the final shot, inbounding to Lydia Haack, but the senior guard couldn't get the three to go as the Golden Bears came away with a tough two point loss.
Haack posted a season-high 27 points in the loss to go along with 11 assists to record her third double-double of the season. Haack was 8-22 from the field, while going a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line on the day.
Leah Dengerud also posted a season-high 19 points, shooting an efficient 7-of-12 from the floor and 5-of-10 from three-point range.
Junior forward Lauren Wilson notched double digit points for the 10th time this season, dropping 13 points with 7 boards. Wilson was also 5-of-11 from the field, with 2 steals and 3 blocks on defense.
Leah Dengerud opened the scoring for the Golden Bears, nailing back-to-back threes to give CSP an early 6-4 lead. Concordia hit on each of their first four three point attempts, opening up a five point lead at the midway point of the period. With CSP holding a 21-18 lead at the end of the first.
Sioux Falls grabbed a one point lead late in the second quarter, but a Leah Dengerud steal and fastbreak finish at the other end gave CSP a 31-10 lead. Lydia Haack hit a three pointer late to make it 34-32, but the Cougars responded with the game being deadlocked at 34 at the break.
A 12-4 run to open up third, capped off with a Lydia Haack three opened up an 11 point Golden Bear lead, their largest of the night. Concordia was hot shooting 62.5% from beyond the arc and closing the third quarter with a 59-51 advantage.
Sioux Falls closed the gap in the fourth, tying the game at 63 near the midway mark of the period. Down four with 53 seconds to play Leah Dengerud came up with a steal and big three point bucket to make it a one point game.
Feddema got another steal and finished in the paint to tie the game at 77 with six seconds to go. After a pair of made free throw attempts, CSP faced a two point deficit, with 1.5 seconds to go. Lydia Haack got the inbound and a three point look but couldn't hit as the Golden Bears fell, 79-77.
As a team the Golden Bears went 26-of-67 from the field and 11-of-26 from three. While the Cougars were 26-of-55 from the floor and 8-of-20 from three.
The Golden Bears will look to end their three game losing skid on Thursday afternoon, Dec. 18, when they head to Nebraska to take on the Wayne State Wildcats. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
