In a nail biter against Gustavus tonight, (Feb. 3) the Saint Benedict basketball team fell short by a score of 61-58 after a missed three-pointer to tie the game as time expired.
 
The Blazers have now lost three of their last four games and four consecutive home games. This drops the Blazer's record to 10-8 and brings their conference record below .500 to 7-8.
 
In the first half, the game started close with three ties and two lead changes in the first 10 minutes. The Blazers then pulled ahead to a 24-16 lead after a 9-to-2 run and thwarted a Gusties comeback before taking another 5-0 run to take the 31-20 lead.  From there, the Blazers kept a strong lead for the remainder of the second half and finished with a 34-22 lead
 
The Gusties (11-8, 8-8 MIAC) came back strong in the second half with a quick 10-0 run in the first four minutes to bring the Blazer's lead down to 34-32. The two teams then had five consecutive one-point lead changes in the next four minutes until the Gusties found themselves with a 43-41 lead with 9:33 left in the game. After a 5-0 run, the Gusties had a commanding 48-41 lead, which they held until the Blazers took a 7-0 run to put the score at 57-55.
 
From there, the two teams fought hard to take the last couple points and the win until the Gusties got just that with a missed three pointer to tie the game as time ran out, giving the Gusties the 61-58 win.
 
Annie Dittberner led the Blazers' offense with 13 points as Tish Alexander and Morgan Dale added another 11. Dale finished with yet another double-double leading her team with 16 rebounds. Sydney Hughes and Brianna Barrett both added another five rebounds. The Blazers as a team finished the game with a field goal percentage of 36.8% compared to the Gusties' 43.9%.
 
The Blazers will move on to face off against Augsburg this Wednesday (Feb. 5) in Minneapolis at 7:30 p.m. The Blazers will look to use their road success to restart their momentum in this game as the Blazers start getting close to the end of the season. This will be the first of two road games before the Blazers return for three consecutive home games looking to take some more conference wins to climb up the ranks in the MIAC.