ST. PAUL, Minn. – No. 14 Minnesota State (17-4, 13-2 NSIC) lost its second NSIC game of the season in a defensive battle Thursday night to No. 19 Concordia-St. Paul (19-2, 13-2 NSIC), 64-56.
 
With their second-straight road conference loss, the Mavericks fall to third place in the NSIC. The team shot just 28.2% from the field, its worst shooting performance of the season. Destinee Bursch led the team with 14 points, seven boards and three steals. She shot 4-18 on the night.
 
Likewise, the Golden Bears move into first place in the conference with the win. For CSP, Leah Dengerud led the way with 27 points on 9-14 shooting. She was outstanding from beyond the arc, with six makes from deep.
 
Ava Stier kicked off the game with a three-pointer, but the Golden Bears matched it with one of their own on the other end. Elisabeth Gadient made a jumper after a stunning spin move in the lane to put the team up a score, but Becher made her first bucket of the game to tie it back up. Stier made a layup off a nice pass from Lucy Leininger for the lead. After two minutes of scoreless play, Adeline Kent made her first bucket of the game to put Minnesota State up 9-5 before Dengerud made her second three of the quarter to cut the Maverick lead to one. The Golden Bears took the lead with a jumper, but Bursch made her first bucket of the game on the other end, a three-pointer from the wing. Dengerud tied the game up at 12-12 with a layup, then sunk another three to swing momentum back to the home team. Kent tied the game up for the fourth time in the opening period with a three-pointer, then made a floater after a defensive stop to give the Mavericks the lead back. Following some makes at the free throw line and a layup for the Golden Bears, Natalie Bremer made her first shot of the game off a steal to make it a one-point game after 10 minutes. CSP led 20-19 through one quarter.
 
After Gadient made two free throws to start the second quarter, Bremer made a pull-up two to give Minnesota State a 23-20 lead. A floater on the other end for Julia Bengston made it a one-point game with 8:44 in the half. Dengerud sunk her fourth three of the game to swing the lead back in favor of the home team. The Golden Bears went up by four on a layup after a bad pass from the Mavericks to cap off a 7-0 run. Bengston hit a three from the wing on offense, then made a floater after a turnaround jumper from Shantell Harden to put CSP up seven. Dengerud hit her fifth three of the first half to put the home team up 10 with three minutes left in the half. She made a floater to put the team up 12, but Hannah Herzig made her first basket of the game to make it a 10-point game. Headed into the locker room for halftime, Concordia-St. Paul led 37-28. Minnesota State scored just nine points in the second quarter and shot 3-17 in the period.
 
The No. 14 team in the nation shot 32.4% from the field in the first half but made 3-7 from behind the arc. However, this was counteracted by CSP making six first-half threes, five of which came from Dengerud. The Golden Bears outrebounded the Mavericks 27-16 in the first half. MSU had 12 points contributed from bench players.
 
Kent led the team with seven points in the first half. Stier had five points on 2-3 shooting and three rebounds in the first two quarters. Bremer and Gadient each had four points in the first 20 minutes.
 
Dengerud led all players with 19 points in the first half. She shot 5-7 from downtown. Bengston ended the half with nine points.
 
Becher made the first basket of the second half, a layup which put the Golden Bears by 11. Stier made a layup, but Dengerud made her sixth three of the game before Bengston made back-to-back fastbreak layups to kick the CSP lead up to 16. After an MSU timeout, Bremer grabbed an offensive rebound and made a jumper from the block to end the run for the Golden Bears. Following over two minutes of scoreless hoops, Bursch made a pair of free throws to end the scoreless stretch and to cut the deficit to 12 with 5:36 remaining. Stier made it a 10-point game with a jumper, but the Golden Bears answered with a score of their own. Dengerud scored her 24^th point of the game with a layup inside to put Concordia-St. Paul up 52-38. After a three-minute scoring drought, Bursch made an and-one layup to cut the deficit to 11 points with 1:18 left in the quarter. She hit a three to cut the Golden Bear lead to 10 points at the end of the quarter. CSP led 54-44 after 30 minutes of action.
 
Bremer spun in for a layup to cut the Maverick deficit to single digits early in the fourth. After over three minutes of high-intensity defensive play with no scoring, Bursch missed two free throws and Bengston sunk a three to put the home team up by 11. Stier made a layup on the other end to make it a nine-point game, but Bengston corralled her sixth steal of the game and scored a layup to reach 18 points on the night. Free throw makes from Herzig and Mallory Czinano cut the lead to nine with 3:13 left in regulation. Bursch cut the deficit to seven with a layup to make it 59-52. Unfortunately, the Golden Bear lead was insurmountable and No. 19 Concordia-St. Paul took down No. 14 Minnesota State, 64-56.
 
The Mavericks ended up shooting 20-71 from the field (28.2% FG), 4-16 from three-point range (25% 3P) and 12-20 from the free throw line (60% FT). Despite forcing 32 Golden Bear turnovers and ending the game with 18 steals, MSU only mustered just 17 points off turnovers.
 
Bursch led the team with 14 points and seven rebounds. She shot 4-18 from the field in the loss. Stier scored 11 points on 5-6 shooting. Bremer was short of double figures for the first time this season, ending with eight points on 4-15 shooting. She had three blocks, which tied a career-high previously set against CSP back in 2022.
 
Concordia-St. Paul shot 41.1% from the field and made eight three-pointers. The home team outrebounded MSU 49-40 and had eight blocked shots total. Dengerud led the way with 27 points and seven rebounds. Bengston scored 18 points, had five rebounds and six steals. While she didn't score much, Becher was the defensive anchor for the Golden Bear squad with five blocked shots inside.

"Our team has been challenged by some really good conference opponents these last two games," said MSU head coach Emilee Thiesse. "We haven't responded the way we need to as a team and it is time to get back to work. We aren't an offensively focused team but when we don't convert on opportunities we get from our defense, it is quite difficult to win a game like this on the road." 
 
The Mavericks host Winona State (9-12, 5-10 NSIC) on Saturday, February 1 at 3:00 p.m. in the Taylor Center. MSU defeated the Warriors 83-69 on the road earlier this season.