St. Joseph, Minn. - St. Joseph, Minn. -- The Saint Benedict basketball team (4-2, 1-2 MIAC) got their first conference victory of the season, defeating the Hamline Pipers by a 79-78 score. The win is Head Coach Mike Durbin's 598th victory of his career, just two shy of the exclusive 600-win club.
 
The Pipers took a quick 6-1 lead to start the game, and held that lead throughout the first half. The Pipers maintained that lead the entire first half, and the Blazers went into the locker room trailing the Pipers 38-35.
 
However, the Blazer offense fired up in the second-half, dropping 44 points on 16-for-37 (43.2%) shooting from the field, their second-highest points scored in a half this year.
 
With 13 minutes to play in the game senior guard Tish Alexander stole the ball from Piper junior guard Chloe Graves and fed it to Blazer senior guard Brianna Barrett, who laid the ball in the basket on the fast-break to give the Blazers their first lead of the game at 53-51. The Blazers held a slight lead until 5:15 when Piper guard Jordan Sammons hit a three-pointer to give the Pipers a 72-71 lead.
 
The Blazers trailed until 0:54 when a jumper from sophomore forward Mattie Lueck broke a tie and gave the Blazers a 77-75 lead. Sammons responded on the other end with a quick three that gave the Pipers the lead back at 78-77. On the ensuing Blazer possession Barrett took the ball at the top of the key and drove into the lane. She quickly sliced between two Piper defenders and laid the ball in the hoop, giving the Blazers a 79-78 lead.
 
On the following possession the Blazers double-teamed Sammons and forced her to take a tough shot while she was double-teamed. She missed, Alexander secured the rebound, and the Blazers came away with their first MIAC victory of the season.
 
That crucial rebound was Alexander's 18th of the game, which more than doubled her previous career high. She also added 11 points giving her the first double-double of her career. For the first time this season the Blazers doubled down on double-doubles, also getting a double-double from senior forward Morgan "Windex" Dale, her fourth of the year. She scored 13 points and reeled in 16 boards, improving her season averages to 12.2 rebounds per game and 11.7 points per game.
 
After losing their first two conference games by a total of four points, the Blazers finally found a way to finish out a close game.
 
"I think all those experiences do pay off for you, but they can also get in your head in a negative way. This was really important for us, to pull out a close game. We're going to play a ton more of them this year thats just how the conference is going to play out," said Head Coach Mike Durbin
 
The team's senior trio of Dale, Barrett, and Alexander scored a combined 42 points and grabbed a combined 39 rebounds.
 
"Our seniors don't have a choice all three of them have to play well. Each of them had their struggles tonight at different points but each of them also contributed significantly to the outcome" said Durbin.
 
The Blazers return to action this Wednesday (Dec. 11th) when they travel to St. Peter to take on Gustavus. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30.