ST. PAUL, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Crookston women's basketball team fell 80-73 to Concordia University, St. Paul Fri., Jan. 15 as they found their seven-game win streak snapped. The Golden Eagles fought to the bitter end against the Golden Bears but would fall short. UMC was led by a banner night from freshman guard Alison Hughes (Fr., G, Janesville, Wis./Early Childhood Education), who finished with 25 points on 9-of-15 from the field and 6-of-10 from beyond the arc.

The Golden Eagles fall to 11-4 (8-3 NSIC) with the loss, while Concordia-St. Paul moved to 6-10 (2-8 NSIC). The win was the first for Amanda Behnke, who took over the program from Paul Fessler at Christmas break.  

In addition to Hughes, Alexa Thielman (Sr., G, Buffalo, Minn./Health Science) added 19 points and seven boards on 6-of-15 from the field and 4-of-10 from beyond the arc. Katrina Nordick (Sr., F, Perham, Minn./Applied Studies) added 10 points, seven rebounds and six assists. To round it out for UMC, Emily Gruber (So., F, Monticello, Minn./Communications) had nine points and 11 boards.

The Golden Eagles were 28-of-68 for 41.2 percent from the field and 13-of-31 for 41.9 percent from beyond the arc. UMC struggled from the charity stripe, going just 4-of-11. In addition, they were controlled on the glass, 43-35.

Concordia-St. Paul looked to 29 points from freshman Anna Schmitt, who was 8-of-11 from the field, 2-of-3 from beyond the arc and 11-of-12 from the charity stripe. Mishayla Jones added 24 points, five boards and four assists. Caitlyn Russell added 10 points. Kyrah Fredenburg had eight points but was huge on the glass, with 21 rebounds.

The Golden Bears were 28-of-61 from the field for 45.9 percent. In addition, they were 6-of-14 for 42.9 percent from beyond the arc. Concordia-St. Paul won the game at the charity stripe, where they were 18-of-25 for 72 percent.

The Golden Bears raced out to a 7-2 lead led by four points from Russell. The Golden Eagles would be able to knot the game up led by five-consecutive points by Hughes, culminating in a three-pointer around the 7:30 mark of the first quarter.

Concordia-St. Paul pushed their lead out to 18-13 with under two minutes left in the first quarter. A Hughes trey with one minute left would cut the UMC deficit to 18-16. A bucket from Russell with 10 seconds left in the quarter would put the Golden Bears up 20-16. UMC would be led by eight points from Hughes, while Russell had eight for the Golden Bears.

The Golden Eagles would start out the second quarter and would get within one (22-21) on a Noga trey with just under nine minutes left in the first half. However after a UMC miss, Jones would hit a mid-range jumper for the Golden Bears to push the deficit out to 24-21. A Kionda Nicks basket would push the lead for Concordia-St. Paul out to 26-21. Hughes would again come up with a big basket would the Golden Eagles to squash the run for the Golden Bears as she hit a three to cut it to 26-24 with under six minutes left in the half. However, the Golden Eagles would struggle from there as Schmitt would hit a three and then get a steal and a lay-up to push the lead out to 33-24 with 3:42 left in the half.

The Golden Bears would extend their lead to 36-24 on a Jones old-fashioned three-point play with 3:08 left in the second quarter. The Golden Eagles would look to make a run to end the half as Hughes found Thielman for a three to cut it to 36-27. Thielman would convert a pair of free throws to get UMC's deficit down to 36-29 with 2:10 left. A Concordia-St. Paul travel would give the ball back to the Golden Eagles, where Hughes would hit her fourth trey of the game and make it an 8-0 run, cutting the lead to 36-32.

UMC's run would be ended as Schmitt hit a three to put the Golden Bears up 39-32 with a minute left in the first half. After a Gruber miss, Nordick would get the offensive board and find Hughes for her fifth three of the first half to cut the lead to 39-35. The Golden Bears would get a bucket from Russell right before the buzzer to go ahead 41-35 at the break.

The Golden Eagles were led by Hughes, who was on-fire from distance for the Golden Eagles. She had 17 points on 6-of-7 from the field and 5-of-6 from beyond the arc. Thielman added seven points and six boards. UMC was 13-of-30 for 43.3 percent from the field and 7-of-14 for 50 percent from beyond the arc.

The Golden Beavers looked to 14 points from Schmitt on 6-of-9 from the field and 2-of-3 from beyond the arc. Russell had 10 points, while Kyrah Fredenburg had five points and 10 boards.
Thielman would open up the second half with a three to cut the lead to 41-38 early on. After a travel by the Golden Bears, Nordick would drive in and get the bucket to cut the lead to 41-40. However, the Golden Bears would respond with a jumper by Schmitt to push out the lead to 43-40 with 8:40 remaining in the third quarter. Hughes would find Gruber and she would be fouled following a Concordia turnover. Gruber would miss the free throw as Concordia held on to their lead 43-42.

Concordia-St. Paul would push the lead to 45-42, but Hughes would drive in and hit the bucket and draw the foul. Hughes would complete the old-fashioned three-point play to tie the game up 45-45. The Golden Bears would be able to push the lead out to 49-45, but an Isieoma Odor (R-Fr., F/C, Bloomington, Minn./Health Management) basket would cut the lead back to 49-47.
The Golden Bears pushed their lead out to 52-47 with 4:05 left in the third quarter on a pair of free throws from Schmitt. The Golden Eagles would get another great play from their freshman Hughes as she drove in and made the contested lay-up and was fouled where she missed the free throw but still gut UMC within 52-50 with 2:30 left in the third. Concordia-St. Paul would quickly push the lead back out to 56-50 on a Jones jumper.

Jones would end the third quarter by hitting a three as the Golden Bears wet ahead 61-54 over Minnesota Crookston.

Thielman would hit her third trey of the game with 7:10 remaining in the game to cut the deficit to 61-57. That would be the only bucket for the first five minutes of the game until a Schmitt lay-up for the Golden Bears would push the lead out to 63-57. Gruber would knock down a three with four minutes remaining to get UMC back within 63-60. After a great play on the defensive end in the post by Gruber, Thielman would hit the bank-shot to tie it up 63-63 with 3:30 remaining. After a foul by UMC, Lauren Shiflett would hit a pair of free throws to put the Golden Bears up 65-63 with just over three minutes left. Nordick would find the hoop to knot it up again 65-65, but Jones would get another basket for Concordia to push the lead up to 67-65.

The Golden Eagles would come up with another huge shot as Noga hit the trey from the wing to go ahead 68-67 with two minutes left. However, Fredenburg would match her with a three of her own to put the Golden Bears ahead 70-68 with just under two minutes remaining. After a defensive stop by Gruber, the Golden Eagles would get a shot inside but would miss. After the foul, Schmitt would hit a pair of free throws to put The Golden Bears up 72-68 with 28 seconds left. Thielman would cut the lead to 72-70 on a jumper with 25 seconds left. After a UMC foul, the bench would be charged with a technical foul. Jones would hit a pair of free throws, followed by a pair of free throws from Schmitt to put Concordia-St. Paul up 76-70 with 24.5 seconds left. Schmitt would look to ice the game with two more free throws. Hughes would hit her sixth three to cut the lead to 78-73 with 11 seconds left.

Schmitt would hit two more free throws for Concordia to make it 80-73 and ice the game, as the Golden Bears would hang on for the win.

The Golden Eagles will return to action Sat., Jan. 10 as they take on Minnesota State University, Mankato at 4 p.m.