ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Winona State women's basketball team survived a tight game, pulling away late to claim a 67-59 road victory over Concordia-St. Paul Saturday at the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul.

The Warriors turned in a balanced offensive effort, with four scoring in double figures. Alexis Foley led the way with 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting, while Tara Roelofs added 14 points, Connor Nagle scored 13 and freshman Hannah McGlone finished with 12. Nagle played the role of faciliator brilliantly, dishing out a career-high eight assists along with seven rebounds.

The first half turned out to be a tightly-contested, back-and-forth affair throughout. The Warriors took a quick 4-0 lead with a Caitie Zepczyk layup, but a 3-pointer by Concordia's Anika Whiting quickly put the Golden Bears up 5-4. A 3-pointer by Roelofs put WSU up 9-5, but CU's Anika Whiting answered with her first two baskets of a game-high 24 point performance to make it a tie game at the midway point of the first half.

A Whiting 3-point play with 6:43 to play in the half would give the home team its largest lead of the game at 17-13 before Nagle and CU's Amanda Barton traded triples to make it 20-16 Golden Bears with under five minutes to play.

Foley got in on the 3-point action to bring WSU within one and then put the Warriors up by one with a pair of free throws. Concordia would get the lead back-up to three at 24-21, but WSU responded with the final two baskets of the half to head to the locker room up 25-24 in a largely defensive battle where neither team led by more than four points in the period.

Baskets from Zepczyk and McGlone to start the second half gave the Warriors a five-point lead – the largest of the game, but the Golden Bears responded with a 6-0 run to move back ahead 30-29 with 16:13 left. Trading baskets continued to be the theme for much of the second half as well, with the game staying a one-possession game for the majority of the game. After the score was tied for the fifth time at 44-44 with just over eight mintues to play, Roelofs hit a 3-pointer, then Nagle did the same on the following possession to put the Warriors out front 50-46. But a quick 6-0 run saw the Golden Bears answer yet again as back-to-back Ameshia Kearney 3-pointers made it 52-50 Concordia with 6:04 to play.

Following a pair of Roelofs free throws that tied the game for the sixth time, she then hit a jumper to put WSU up 54-52 and the Warriors would never trail again. McGlone hit back-to-back jumpers and then Nagle hit another 3-point shot as an 11-0 run put the Warriors up 61-52 with 2:19 to play and the Warriors held on for the eventual 67-59 win.

With the victory, the Warriors ensured itself a home game in the first round of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament Wednesday, Feb. 25 after a Sioux Falls loss Saturday cemented the top four teams in the South Division.

WSU shot 45.5 percent (25-of-55) for the game while holding Concordia-St. Paul to 39.3 percent (22-of-56).

Winona State (18-6, 14-6 NSIC) returns home to McCown Gym next weekend to close the regular season with a pair of matchups against Wayne State on Friday and the finale against Augustana on Saturday.