Winona State University’s women’s basketball team’s four-game losing streak against Concordia-St. Paul became a five-game losing streak after this past Friday’s game ended with a score of 55-70.

The Warriors struck first with a quick shot from fourth-year center, Emma Fee, giving them a lead that was quickly taken.

Unfortunately, the Warriors’ lead was overturned and they were not able to bounce back for the remainder of the game.

Despite the struggle to catch up to the Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears, Winona State fourth year, Taylor Hustad, was able to reach double digits in points with 12, along with first-year player Mattie Schimenz who hit double digits in points for the third time this season with 10 points.

Having played the Golden Bears in the past, Head Coach Scott Ballard knew what to prepare his team for going into the game.

“We knew that defensively they were very good at defending the three-point shots and ball screens and we needed to get in transition as many times as possible for our guards to have scoring opportunities,” Ballard said. “We also knew they were a very balanced offensive team and have a lot of good three-point shooters.”

While this prior knowledge did not come in handy for the team on Friday, it did the following day.

Winona State won the second game of the weekend 68-67, the Warriors coming home victorious and ending the losing streak.

After Friday night’s loss, Ballard said the Warriors knew what they failed at and what they needed to change to achieve the Saturday win.

“We had too many bad passes and decisions in Friday’s game that led to 23 turnovers and they scored 25 points from those bad passes,” Ballard said.

Saturday’s game started off the same as the night before, the Warriors being down the entire game.

However, the final seconds of the game shifted the tide quickly.

Winona State was able to gain their first lead of the match with only 37 seconds left in the game, but the Golden Bears were able to steal the game back seconds later.

Next, with seconds left in the game and a game-winning shot from Fee, the Warriors were able to emerge victorious.

Ballard said the Warriors’ comeback in the fourth quarter was “remarkable”.

“We started pressing full court in the fourth quarter because [we were] trailing by 19 points and forced Concordia into several turnovers and quick shots that we converted into many quick scores and some three-point shots,” Ballard said. “It was a remarkable and unbelievable comeback against a great team and an exciting way to win a game at the buzzer.”

Saturday’s game was dominated by Fee.

Fee’s final field goal made her the lead scorer of the game with 13 total points, followed closely by fourth-year guard Emily Kieck, who had 11 points that night.

Fee was also the top rebounder of the game, bringing in six total rebounds.

The Warriors are traveling to Fayette, Iowa this upcoming weekend to play Upper Iowa University in their last two games of the regular season.

They will take on the Peacocks Friday, Feb. 19 at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 20 at 2 p.m.

Winona State’s women’s basketball team has been on a winning streak against Upper Iowa since 2013 with 13 wins in a row; The Warriors hope to continue this streak to end their season.