Box Score

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Southwest Minnesota State closed out the regular season tonight with a hard-fought 71-68 loss to Concordia-St. Paul in NSIC women's basketball at the Gangelhoff Center.
 
SMSU finishes the regular season 3-23 overall, 3-19 NSIC. The Mustangs will be the No. 8 seed from the South Division in the upcoming NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament and face the No. 1 seed from the North and overall conference champion, MSU Moorhead on Wednesday, Feb. 22. 
 
SMSU, which trailed by double digits for much of the second half, rallied to within one point with 40 seconds remaining. Following a CSP field goal with 8.8 seconds left, SMSU's last-second 3-pointer fell short as CSP secured the victory.
 
Caleigh Rodning paced the Mustangs with 22 points and 11 rebounds, recording her eighth straight double-double and 10^th of the season. Jamie Spicer, who poured in 16 points, one shy of her career-high, connected on four 3-pointers.
 
CSP (19-9, 15-7NSIC) was led by Caitlyn Russell, who scored 20 points with 10 rebounds.
 
SMSU closed the game shooting 43 percent (23 of 54) from the field, including 7 of 22 from 3-point range.
 
CSP scored the game's first eight points, but SMSU slowly cut into the deficit and took its first lead at 16-15 late in the first quarter on a 3-pointer by Spicer.
 
Rodning would score the first five points of the second quarter to give SMSU its largest lead at 21-15, but CSP used a pair of big runs to outscore SMSU 23-9 in the second quarter. SMSU scored just four points the final 8:48 of the half.
 
SMSU shot 37 percent in the opening half with Spicer leading the team with nine points, while Rodning had seven points and five rebounds.
 
CSP build a 14-point lead midway through the third quarter, before taking a 53-45 advantage at the quarter break.
 
CSP maintained the lead and held a 69-55 lead with four minutes remaining in the game before SMSU unleashed a 13-0 run—capped by a 3-pointer by Spicer with 40 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to 69-68.
 
Following a timeout, CSP's Mishayla Jones hit a long-range jumper with 8.8 left to give the Golden Bears a three-point lead. Following an SMSU timeout, Spicer's 3-pointer from the right side missed short, sending SMSU to its fourth straight loss.
 
Southwest Minnesota State and MSU Moorhead will tip-off at 6 p.m. on Wednesday. MSUM defeated SMSU 73-66 in the only meeting earlier this season on Jan. 27 in Marshall.

Photo credit: CSP Sports Information