By: by Patrick Rydeen

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SEARCY, Ark. – The seventh seed Concordia University women's basketball team (26-8) advances to the NCAA Central Region semifinal with a 68-57 win over second seed and host (#2) Harding University (29-3).

The Golden Bears moved to 8-9 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, while this was Harding's debut in the tournament.

Concordia will take on third seed Central Missouri (26-4) on Saturday, March 15 at 7:30 p.m. in the first-ever meeting between the programs.

Harding made a run midway through the second half to secure their only lead of the game but the Golden Bears responded with a crucial 16-2 run to regain the lead and cruise to victory.

CU turned up the defense and held Harding to just 28.1% (18-64) shooting for the game, despite shooting just 32.8% themselves. They also won the battle on the glass, holding a 48-43 rebounding advantage.

The Golden Bears were outscored 26-14 in the paint, 11-2 on second chance points, 9-5 off the bench, turned it over 14 times compared to 10 for Harding but still did enough to pick up a decisive win on the road thanks to the strong defensive performance.

Concordia head coach Paul Fessler was pleased with how his squad played down the stretch. He said, "We really gutted that out and went on a good run the last 8 minutes."
 
Senior Carissa Wolyniec provided some veteran leadership as she hit some big shots and finished with a game-high 21 points. She hit 6-11 from the floor, 4-8 from three and 5-6 from the free throw line and picked up seven boards.

Wolyniec stated, "We really had some different people step up and make clutch shots at the end to give us the lead."

Ameisha Kearney overcame a tough day shooting by getting to the line frequently, especially late in the game. She had 16 points, four rebounds and a pair of assists as she got to the charity stripe 10 times.

Rachel Hansen did one better as she got to the line 11 times, hitting nine of them, to finish with 15 points. She also had four rebounds and four assists.

Kionda Nicks was a presence on both of ends of the court as she filled out the stat sheet with eight points, 13 boards and six blocks and a pair of steals.

Nicks helped hold Central Region Player of the Year Kristen Celsor to just 11 points on 4-15 shooting. She did still pick up 12 rebounds to collect the double-double.

Arielle Saunders sparked the Lady Bison with 16 points and 15 rebounds despite playing much of the second half in foul trouble.

The Golden Bears never trailed in the first half as they used three point shooting and tough defense to jump out to a quick 16-8 lead. The Lady Bison missed 12 of their first 15 shots while CU connected on six of their first 12. Concordia quickly cooled off as Harding came storming back. HU cut the lead to two at 20-18 at the 5:38 mark of the half. Neither team could get much going the rest of the half as the Golden Bears went into the break holding a 26-22 advantage.
 
CU shot just 27.3% from the floor in the half while Harding shot just 25.0%.
 
Wolyniec hit three from beyond the arc in the first half to enter the break with a game-high nine points. Kearney also chipped in eight.
 
Chelsor, the Central Region Player of the Year, was held to just two points on 1-8 shooting in the opening half despite playing all 20 minutes.
 
The Lady Bison battled back to gain their first lead of the day nearly half way through the second half. Concordia had built the lead up to 36-30 with 13:23 to play, but a 9-2 run for Harding gave them their first advantage at 39-38. They pushed the lead out to four on a Cheslor three to make it 46-42, but the Golden Bears quickly erased that with a 16-2 run spanning just over six minutes to gain a 58-48 lead of their own with just 3:11 to play. The Lady Bison were unable to recover as Concordia cruised to a 68-57 win to earn a spot in the NCAA Central Region semifinal.

The tournament win was the Golden Bears' first since their run to the Sweet 16 in 2010. The Golden Bears have never advanced past the region tournament as they were also stopped in the Sweet 16 in 2006. They now hold an 8-9 record in their 10 appearances.