The Peacock women's basketball team squared off with the Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears on Friday at the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul, Minn. Trailing 20-12 at the end of the first quarter, Upper Iowa put together a 23-point second frame to take a halftime lead. However, the home team stifled the UIU offense in the second half, holding the Peacocks to 23 total second-half points. CSP took a late lead and held on with defense to improve to 6-3 overall and 2-1 in the NSIC. With the loss, Upper Iowa falls to 0-8 and 0-4 in league play.

Blair Klostermann put together a 16-point night to lead all Peacocks on 6-17 shooting. The junior transfer converted 4-6 at the free throw line and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds as well. Klostermann has now led the team in scoring each of the last four games. Sam Ofstad chipped in with 10 points on the night on 4-14 shooting, while Ashley Rosensteil added 10 points as well off the bench. Sophomore Kari Fitzpatrick totaled six points and four rebounds and Carly Pagel totaled four points inside. All ten Peacocks who played scored on Friday night.

The first quarter began with back-and-forth action. Rosensteil and Haley Martin converted on back-to-back three-pointers to put UIU up 8-6 early on, but after three lead changes and three ties to even the score 12-12, Concordia-St. Paul went on an 8-0 run to take a 20-12 lead into the second quarter.

The Golden Bears built an 8-point lead (29-21) with 5:16 remaining in the second quarter, but the Peacocks fired back. Klostermann converted six consecutive UIU points to put the visitors within three points, and sparked a 13-1 Upper Iowa run to close the half. Blake Bergren connected on a pair of free throws, and Rosensteil followed with a three-point play to put UIU up for the first time in the second quarter. Klostermann ended with a pair of foul shots to help the Peacocks cap off a 22-10 second frame. The 22 second-quarter points tie a team-high for points in a period this season. Upper Iowa converted 50.0% shooting (13-26) in the first half, while holding the home team to 9-32 (28.1%) shooting to take the lead at the intermission.

Concordia-St. Paul reversed roles in the second half. The Golden Bears would go on to hold Upper Iowa to 8-31 from the field (25.8%) including just 1-10 (10.0%) from behind the arc. The Peacock defense was strong in the second stanza as well, holding the home team to 9-31 shooting (29.0%), but four big three-point shots propelled CSP in the final 20 minutes.

The Golden Bears built a five-point third-quarter lead with 6:10 remaining after a Kayla Miller three-pointer. Upper Iowa bounced back with an 8-0 spurt fueled by back-to-back Sam Ofstad jumpers to lead 46-43. However, in the final 3:43, CSP would put together an 8-0 burst to take a four-point advantage and eventually lead 50-48 heading to the final quarter.

The fourth frame featured all defense, with Concordia-St. Paul outscoring UIU just 10-9 in the final ten minutes. Klostermann tied the game at 50 with 8:30 remaining, and CSP put together four straight points to lead 54-50. Fitzpatrick hit a pair of free throws to get within two, but Anna Schmidt converted in the paint at the 2:17 mark to push the lead back to four. The lead was six with 1:30 left, and UIU could not convert that big shot down the stretch. CSP locked down and held on for a 60-57 win.

Upper Iowa outscored their opponent 28-16 in the paint and 22-3 in bench points, but could only total 23 second-half points on Friday night. The loss snaps a two-game winning streak at the Gangelhoff Center for UIU.

The Peacocks will head south from the Twin Cities to Mankato, Minn. to square off with the Minnesota State Mavericks on Saturday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Taylor Center.