St. Joseph, Minn. – The Saint Benedict basketball team came out strong tonight (Nov. 28) in their first home game of the season against the Hamline University Pipers, winning with a score of 87-72.

As Claire Lynch Hall began to push towards capacity at the beginning of the second half, the Blazers started running away with the game. The Blazers recorded a field goal percentage of 60% in the second half compared to only 44.8% in the first half. They also improved in free throw percentage going from 60% to 64.3% in the second half. 

The Pipers started out strong and took an early 8-2 lead less than three minutes in, and led until the 12 minute mark when an Emily Lueck three-pointer gave CSB its first advantage.

The Blazers continued to clip away against the very physical Pipers, who finished the game with 29 fouls and two players fouling out. After a 14-to-2 run the Blazers took the lead at 16-10. After that it was all downhill for the Blazers who led at the break with a score of 42-34.

From there, the Blazers continued to rack up the points on the Pipers free-throw-by-free-throw, finishing the night 30-of-48 at the line compared to the Pipers 9-of-17.

Senior Morgan Dale led the team tonight in scoring with a career high of 17 and senior Whitney Canton added another 15, including nine on free throws alone. Senior Jamie Wollin also led the charge for the Blazers tonight racking up 10 points and 10 rebounds for the second double-double of her career.

Rounding out the senior class and not to be outdone, Hannah Hylla finished the night a perfect 4-of-4 from field goal range (including a three-pointer) and 2-of-2 in free throws to finish the night without a single miss and 11 points.

The win puts the Blazers at 3-1 on the season and 1-0 in the MIAC, while Hamline remains winless at 0-3, and 0-1 in conference play.

The home stand continues on Saturday (Dec. 1), when CSB hosts Gustavus at 3 p.m. in Claire Lynch Hall.