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This Week: The 9-5 Saint Benedict basketball team returns home Saturday (Jan. 25) after two straight road wins to face off against Saint Mary's University. The Cardinals are coming off 11 straight wins, including a 56-54 win over No. 9 St. Thomas and a 67-64 win over the Blazers, which started their streak. The game will be held in the Claire Lynch Hall and will start at 3 p.m.
About the Cardinals: The Cardinals currently sit in first place in the MIAC with a record of 14-1 and a conference record of 11-1. After starting the season 3-0, Saint Mary's suffered its first loss on the road against Bethel by a score of 78-69. Since then, the Cardinals haven't lost a single game and head into this matchup with a lot of momentum. With no clear standout players ranked in the top five in the MIAC in either points, rebounds or field goal percentage, it is clear that the Cardinals play a team game that has pushed them to the front of the MIAC in both overall and conference wins.
Last Year: The Blazers faced off against the Cardinals in the fifth game of the season where the 4-1 Cardinals took the very close win over the 3-2 Blazers. After being down 36-19 at halftime, the Blazers fought back with an 11-0 run in the middle of the second half to bring the score to 45-37. The Blazers then responded with a 7-4 run to bring the game within five before going on another big run, this time tying the game at 59-59 with a run of 15-2. From here, the Blazers and Cardinals went back and forth with the lead until the Cardinals snuck away with the 67-64 win.
The Storyline: After starting the season with three straight wins, the Blazers dropped two losses, added two wins, dropped two losses and finally added another two wins to put them at a record of 7-4 before losing to Concordia and then gaining two more wins to sit at 9-5. The Blazers will head into this game trying to break the pattern and win their third straight, while the Cardinals will be looking to use their momentum to further extend their winning streak.
Who to Watch: Brianna Barrett (Annandale, Minn.) currently sits in fourth place in the MIAC with 15.2 points per game as
Morgan Dale (Jamestown, N.D.) powers the Blazer's defense with 10.9 rebounds per game, which is the highest mark in the MIAC. Both Shelby Auseth and Courtney Eurle lead the Cardinal's offense with 179 points each and an average of 11.9 points per game. Eurle also leads the team in rebounds with 115 and averages 5.7 defensive rebounds per game. Mariam Awoniyi also adds another 5.9 rebounds per game and leads the team with 2.7 offensive rebounds per game.
Last Time Out: In their last time out, the Blazers took their second consecutive road win by beating St. Catherine 63-41. After a close first half where the Blazers led 26-24, the Blazers finished the second half with a field goal percentage of better than 50%. The Blazers also beat the Wildcats with 24 rebounds compared to their 11 and took control of the game with a 13-2 run followed by a 23-3 run to take their lead to 55-29. The Blazers then kept this lead for the majority of the game and finished with a 63-41 win.
