Women's Basketball Suffers First Loss at Concordia

ST. PAUL, Minn. — No. 8-ranked Michigan Tech coughed up 55 second-half points to Concordia-St. Paul tonight and suffered its first defeat of the season 86-77 to the host Golden Bears at the Radisson Hotel Minneapolis St. Paul Women's Basketball Classic.

Tech led 42-31 at halftime and 61-59 after three quarters but couldn't hold off Concordia, which shot 62 percent in the second half.

The Golden Bears (3-1) turned a 68-65 lead into a 74-65 advantage with back-to-back 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter.

The Huskies (2-1) battled back to within five several times down the stretch but couldn't get the defensive stops to continue to trim the margin.

Danielle Blake's free throws pulled the Black and Gold within 79-75 with 56 seconds, but Concordia ended the game by hitting 7-of-8 at the foul line to ice it.

"We can't give up 86 points and expect to win," said Tech coach Kim Cameron. "I thought we'd handle their pressure better than we did. It put us on our heels, and we didn't respond the way we needed to."

Kerry Gardner came off the bench to hit four 3-pointers in the opening half and help the Huskies build an 11-point lead at the break.

The Huskies shot 50 percent in the first half, but that number dropped to 34 percent after halftime. Tech's starters, who were lights out from the field (65 percent) in last night's game, made just 38 percent tonight.

Kylie Moxley had a team-high 19 points to go with seven rebounds and four assists. Blake added 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists and was named to the all-tournament team.

Gardner hit one second-half triple to finish with a career-high tying 15 points.

Concordia-St. Paul held a 39-29 rebounding advantage. The Golden Bears also went to the line 35 times in the contest and cashed on 29 of those (83 percent) compared to 13-of-15 for Tech.

Michigan Tech will return home for a few days before returning to Minnesota on Saturday (Nov. 28). The Huskies will face their fourth straight Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference opponent at Minnesota State in a 3 p.m. tipoff.