ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Winona State women's basketball team continued its winning ways Friday night, claiming its 10th straight game by double digits with an 84-66 win over Concordia-St. Paul at the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul.
Senior guard Connor Nagle led the Warriors, tying a game-high with 21 points on the strength of five 3-pointers and 8-of-13 shooting overall. Nagle also pulled down eight rebounds and dished out three assists.
It wasn't a breeze for the Warriors early on, trailing by seven late in the first quarter. The Warriors got out a quick 5-0 lead on a 3-pointer by Tara Roelofs – who finished with 14 points but shot just 4-of-15 for the game – but the Golden Bears answered with a 12-3 spurt to take a 12-8 lead before a Kyrah Fredenburg triple gave CSP its largest lead of the game at 17-10 and led 19-12 before WSU went on a 14-4 run through the remainder of the quarter to lead 26-23.
Roelofs hit her second 3-pointer to open the second quarter to put the Warriors up six, but five minutes later a Kionda Nicks put the Golden Bears back in front 32-31 with 4:29 left in the half. But WSU used another run, this time a 13-2 spurt capped off with a Nagle layup with a minute to play put WSU up by 10, 44-34, at halftime.
The Warriors would be in the driver's seat the remainder of the game, never allowing the Golden Bears to get back to single digits. By the 3:22 mark of the third quarter the Warriors had built a 20-point lead on a Roelofs jumper before a mini-run from CSP got it back to 13 at 65-52 with a quarter to play.
A pair of Concordia free throws cut it to 67-56 early in the fourth but a 3-pointer from Nagle – her fifth and final of the game – gave the Warriors a 17-point cushion at 75-58 and the Warriors cruised to the 84-66 victory.
The comfortable 18-point victory was the slimmest margin of victory for the undefeated Warriors since a season-opening 66-63 win over Cal State Dominguez Hills.
In addition to Nagle's 21 and Roelofs' 14, senior Alexis Foley added 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting with a team-high four assists.
Winona State (11-0, 4-0 NSIC) heads to Minnesota State Saturday for a 6 p.m. matchup against Minnesota State inside Taylor Center.
