ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Golden Bear basketball teams head out for their final regular season road games of the year this Saturday, playing the Dragons of MSU Moorhead. The women's team, a half game behind U-Mary and Northern State at eighth place, take on the #21-ranked Dragons, while the men's team will be looking for a win to secure their spot in the NSIC Tournament. View the games LIVE and FREE at www.northernsun.tv. - Women's Live Stats - Men's Live Stats - View Releases: WOMEN'S - MEN'S
WOMEN'S GAMEDAY
The Golden Bears (16-11, 8-9 NSIC) are currently standing alone at tenth place in the NSIC standings, just a half game behind both the University of Mary and Northern State. They know that a strong finish to the remainder of the regular season could give them their seventh straight NSIC Tournament berth. UM and NSU are on the road for three of their remaining four games, while Concordia's game this Saturday is their last road game.
This weekend's meeting with #21 MSU Moorhead (19-5, 12-5 NSIC) should prove to be a good matchup. After falling by just three points to the Dragons in December, 67-64, the Golden Bears will be looking to even the score. The Dragons rank in the middle of the NSIC statistical standings in most categories, but have been very strong on the boards. Concordia has out-rebounded each of their last four opponents and will look to attack MSUM on the glass, as well.
The Golden Bears are the better three-point shooting team, hitting 7.33 per game. They have done a good job holding opponents to low shooting figures, keeping teams to just 38.0% shooting. Concordia also has an edge over MSU Moorhead in turnovers. The teams are equal in turnovers per game (16.5), but the Golden Bears have forced more mistakes by opponents and maintain a +1.00 turnover margin, while the Dragons have a -2.33 margin.
Post play will be highlighted on Saturday, as MSUM's top two scorers play down low and also anchor the rebounding front. Forward Alison Nash-Gerlach is the reigning NSIC Player of the Week, averaging 15.0 ppg and 5.6 rpg. Center Meghan Rettke follows with 13.4 ppg and an NSIC high 9.8 rpg. The Golden Bears are led by forward Candace Olstad with 13.4 ppg and 5.9 rpg, while forward Gillian Bjerke has had several breakout games of late and will factor into the team's success. The Golden Bears also have a variety of players who will look to connect on distance shots, including Kali Olstad and Jamie Jones.
The Golden Bears have a heavy 18-8 lead in the overall series with MSU Moorhead. They are 7-3 over the past ten meetings, but the Dragons pulled out a victory in the first meeting of the year, 67-64.
MEN'S GAMEDAY
Concordia enters Saturday's game with a magic number of one to clinch a spot in the NSIC Tournament, meaning a Concordia win or a Bemidji State loss secures a postseason contest for the Golden Bears. However, they will be traveling to a location where they have only won once in school history in nine meetings dating back to CU's first year in the league in 1999-00.
In their only win against MSU Moorhead at Alex Nemzek Hall, Concordia turned a 17 point deficit with 14:07 to play into an 11 point lead with two minutes to go - a 28 point turnaround in just over 12 minutes of basketball. That remarkable spurt in head coach Kelly Boe's first season came largely on the back of outstanding three-point shooting. After hitting just one of five from deep in the first half, Concordia hit 7-11 in the second half. Joey Peel drained four of six from three-point territory while four others hit one apiece in the game. Peel finished with a team-high 17 points while Mike Cunningham - a freshman at the time, came off the bench with 14 points on 5-6 shooting in 13 minutes. CU shot 70.4% from the field in the second half while the Dragons sputtered, hitting just one of 12 from three-point range in the closing 20 minutes.
Earlier this season, Concordia dispatched of the Dragons with an 81-68 win at Gangelhoff Center behind 20 points on 8-9 shooting from Cunningham who also added four steals in just 24 minutes. Craig Heiman, the only other player along with Cunningham for either school to be on the floor in the 2006-07 game in Moorhead, added 18 points to help Concordia win their fourth straight NSIC game to start the league slate in the midst of a five game winning streak. Heiman converted nine of 11 at the stripe and had team-highs of six rebounds and five assists. The Dragons were led by Justyn Burgess with 16 points in 18 minutes off the bench while another reserve, Xavier Reed, was the only other Dragon in double-figures with 10 points with a team-high seven rebounds.
MSU Moorhead leads the all-time series 12-7 against Concordia with CU winning four of the last five meetings - all since coach Kelly Boe took the reins of the program. Under MSUM coach Stu Engen, Concordia has compiled six of their seven wins in the all-time series against his Dragons with MSUM leading under Engen 7-6. MSUM started the series by defeating Concordia in eight of the first nine meetings from 1999 through the 2003-04 season.
Concordia will look to solidify at least a .500 NSIC finish with a victory on Saturday evening at 8 p.m. at Nemzek Hall.
