By: by Patrick Rydeen

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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The (S3) Concordia University women's basketball team (23-8) advances to the NSIC/Sanford Health semifinals after a 73-52 win over (N2) Minot State (19-9) on Sunday night. The Golden Bears improve to 21-7 all-time in the tournament and will face (S5) Sioux Falls in the semifinals tomorrow night.

The Golden Bears did an excellent job of takng care of the ball with only four turnovers in the game while also forcing 13. CU held Minot State to over 20 points below their season average as they held them to just 33.9% from the floor. Concordia also held advantages in points off turnovers, fast break points, bench points and assists.

Anika Whiting paced the CU attack with 19 points on an efficient 7-12 shooting as she also pulled in nine boards.

Ameshia Kearney continued her torrid pace of late with 15 points on 4-6 from the floor, 2-2 from three and 5-6 from the free throw line. She is averaging 19.8 points per game over the last four games.

Rachel Hansen had a diverse line with 11 points, seven rebounds and six assists for the game.

NSIC Player of the Year Carly Boag had 16 points and 12 boards for Minot State but was held to just one point after the half. She was 7-17 from the floor and turned it over four times.

Speedy Jones and Katie Hardy also finished in double figures with 14 and 13 points, respectively.
 
Play was back and forth in the opening minutes with three ties and three lead changes in the first four minutes before the Golden Bears took control. CU used a 14-2 run spanning just over five minutes to turn a 7-6 advantage in favor of Minot into a 20-9 lead in favor of the Golden Bears. The lead eventually grew to 15 at the 3:58 mark on a three from Ameshia Kearney, but the Beavers responded with an 8-0 run of their own to close the gap to seven. The two teams traded baskets to close the half and CU went into the break with a 36-27 lead.
 
Ball control was a big factor in the opening half as Concordia won the turnover battle by forcing nine turnovers and committing only three. That difference led to a 10-0 advantage in points off turnovers. The Golden Bears also gained an edge from beyond the arc as they went 4-9 in the first half while Minot went 0-3.
 
Both teams got off to a slow start to open up the second half as the teams combined to shoot 2-12 with three turnovers in the first five minutes. CU started to open things up with a 7-1 run to extend their lead to 50-34 near the half way point of the half. Minot State cut it back to ten with 6:08 to play after and an and-one layup and a pair of technical free throws for Hardy but they wouldn't get any closer. Concordia scored 10 of the next 11 points to essentially put the game away with a 65-46 lead with 3:36 to go. The lead eventually ballooned to 21 points before the Golden Bears called on the reserves to close out the 73-52 win.

CU turned up the heat in the second half and shot 44.0% from the floor while holding the Beavers to just 28.0%.