BOX SCORE
ABERDEEN, S.D. – One team was able to put two halves together, the other one wasn't. That was the story Friday at Wachs Arena, when the #20 Concordia University Golden Bears were able to outlast a pesky Northern State team that gave the NSIC leaders all they could handle for 38 minutes of the game, but they could not pull off the upset in losing 72-63.
The loss drops the Wolves to 8-9 overall on the season and 4-6 in the Northern Sun.
The two teams battled to a 10-10 all tie through the first 4:35 of the game, using mostly the painted section near the hoop. That storyline would hold true though the remainder of the game with the two teams combining for 74 points in the paint.
Through the next five minutes, the Golden Bears would build up a 16-point lead 30-14 with 9:30 remaining in the half. But little-by-little the Wolves would decrease the lead amount until it was 32-32 all with 40 seconds remaining. A put-back by junior
Krista Rabenberg would give the Wolves a lead at halftime 35-33.
The box scores would be near identical in the first half with each team shooting about 45 percent from the floor in the first go round.
The second half was just as tight as the first, with neither team having a lead larger than three points through the first 18 minutes of the half. With around two minutes to go, the Golden Bears began to put the game out of reach en route to a 72-63 victory.
Leading the Wolves was Rabenberg and her season-high 15 points on 7-13 shooting from the floor. She added eight rebounds and five assists in 36 minutes of action on the court.
Following her was sophomore Mikayla Barondeau with 15 points as well, adding seven rebounds before fouling out late in the game.
Senior Lennea Mueller had 12 points and four rebounds during her night, while also adding two assists and three steals in 31 minutes of action.
The Wolves will look to rebound tomorrow night when they host the St. Cloud State Huskies in another NSIC tilt at 6:00 p.m. on Don Meyer Court. The Huskies lost to the University of Mary by a score of 78-61 tonight in Bismarck, N.D.
Northern State University is an NCAA Division II affiliated school participating in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and is located in Aberdeen, South Dakota.
**GO WOLVES**
