By: by Patrick Rydeen

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia University women's basketball team (16-6, 11-4 NSIC) cruised to their fifth consecutive win with a 68-63 win over Minot State (14-5, 10-5 NSIC) on Friday night. 
 
The Golden Bears used a dominant first half to build a 41-19 lead at the break and withstood a second half surge to claim the win.  Concordia shot 45.9% from the field in the opening 20 minutes while holding the Beavers to just 20.6%.  The momentum shifted in favor of Minot State in the second half as Minot rebounded to shoot 48.6% in the second half compared to just 26.1% for the Golden Bears, but it wasn't enough to overcome the 22 point halftime deficit.

Anika Whiting scored a season-high 28 points, one shy of her career-high, on 10-17 shooting and 7-7 from the free throw line.  She also grabbed six boards.  She nearly became the first Golden Bear to score 30 points in a game since Maurika Hickman in the 2010-11 season.

Carissa Wolyniec also inched closer to the 1,000 point mark by hitting five three and scoring 16 points.  She now stands at 989 career points.

Rachel Hansen was third member of the Golden Bears to break double digits with 13 points despite only attempting four shot, hitting three of them.  She hit 7-10 from the free throw line and contributed six assists and four rebounds.

Despite only scoring four points, Kionda Nicks was a big factor in the game with nine rebounds and an NCAA school record tying seven blocks.  She tied her own record set on January 17th.

Carly Boag, the NSIC scoring leader, lived up to the hype by scoring 21 points and picking up 16 rebounds as well as four steals for the Beavers.  Alisha Jones also chipped in 19 points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals.

After falling behind 7-2, the Golden Bears went on a huge 39-10 run spanning nearly the entire half to build a 24 point lead before Minot State scored two points to make it 41-19 going into the half.  The run was started by a 12-0 spurt to give the Golden Bears a lead they wouldn't give up. 

CU outrebounded Minot 26-20 and outscored them 24-12 in the paint in the first half and looked to be headed to a blowout win.

Wolyniec hit a three right out of the break to give Concordia a 25 point lead, but the Beavers wouldn't go away.  The lead remained at 59-37 with 9:21 to go in the game before an 8-0 run cut the lead to 14, the closest it had been since the 3:34 mark of the first half.  Minot State cut the lead all the way to single digits with just over a minute to go at 64-55 and they got as close as five at 68-63 but it was too little too late for the Beavers.

Concordia is now 2-0 all-time against the Beavers.

The Golden Bears face another tough NSIC North opponent tomorrow night as the Mary Marauders come to town.  Tip-off is set for 4:00 p.m.