St. Joseph, Minn. – Mattie Lueck scored 17 points and pulled in nine rebounds, but the College of Saint Benedict basketball lost to No. 5 St. Thomas today by an 80-57 score. With the loss, the Blazers drop to 8-9 overall and 5-5 in MIAC play. With the win, the Tommies stretch their undefeated record to 17-0 and 10-0 in the MIAC.
 
The conference-leading Tommie offense ran out to an early lead over the Blazers, jumping out to a 16-7 lead early in the first half. The Tommies shot 47 percent and controlled the rest of the half, as the Blazers went into the locker room down 40-19.
 
After shooting just 23 percent in the first half, the Blazers shot 52 percent in the second half, and played the Tommies relatively evenly. First-year forward Kate Banovetz scored eight of her 12 points and racked in five of her eight rebounds in the second half. She was the Blazers most efficient player in the game, shooting a perfect 4-4 from the field and 4-4 from the free throw line in 20 minutes. She currently leads the team with a season field goal percentage of 55 percent.
 
With 57 points, the Blazers became just the fourth team to score over 50 points against the Tommie defense this year. The Tommies are currently rated third in the country with a defense that is giving up just 45.9 points per game.
 
That offense was led by Mattie Lueck, who shot a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line en route to scoring 17 points for the Blazers.  Those 17 points improved her team-leading scoring average to 13.4 points per game and ranks her seventh in the MIAC in points per game.
 
Blazer basketball will return to action on Wednesday, when they will make the road trip to Moorhead to play the Concordia Cobbers (10-7, 6-4 MIAC).