St. Joseph, Minn. – The Saint Benedict basketball team suffered a tough loss to Saint Mary's today (Jan. 25) in Claire Lynch Hall by a score of 85-73. This drops their record down to 9-6 (6-6 MIAC) as the Blazers let up more points to Saint Mary's than they have all season.
 
The Cardinals extend their winning streak to 12 games and remain in first place in the MIAC.
 
After a close start to the game where the Cardinals led the Blazers just 10-9, Saint Mary's took a 10-2 run to bring their lead up to 20-11. The Blazers then responded with a 14-4 run to take the 25-24 lead with five minutes left in the first half. From there, the Cardinals took a slight lead and kept it until the end of the first half where the Blazers trailed 37-32.
 
In the second half, the Blazers caught back up to the Cardinals and trailed 39-37 before Saint Mary's went on a 9-2 run to take a 48-39 lead. The Cardinals maintained the lead for the next 10 minutes before slowly extending their lead to bring the score to 72-57. From there, the Cardinals maintained a comfortable lead all the way until the end of the game and walked away with the 85-73 win.
 
Mattie Lueck led the Blazers offensively with career high 21 points and five assists while Brianna Barrett finished the night with 15 points. Tish Alexander also led the Blazers with four assists and eight points as the Blazers finished the night with a field goal percentage of 46.4%. 
 
Defensively, Morgan Dale led the way with eight defensive rebounds and a total of nine on the night. Dale also led the Blazers in steals with four.
 
The Blazers will move on to face off against Hamline in St. Paul this Wednesday (Jan. 29) at 7:30 p.m. The Pipers will head into this matchup with a record of 3-12 and a conference record of 2-10. The Blazers will be looking to take advantage of the struggling Pipers on the road before coming home for two consecutive games as the end of the season slowly draws nearer.