St. Joseph, Minn. -- Senior wing Emily Lueck scored 14 points on 3-for-4 shooting from behind the three-point line, and the College of Saint Benedict Basketball team (5-6, 2-2) beat Bethel (8-3, 2-2) by a 69-55 score. Bethel was previously third in the conference and was coming off a conference victory over No. 21 Saint Mary's. With the win, the Blazers are one of six teams (yes, literally half the conference) that are currently tied for fourth in the MIAC with a .500 record in conference play. The Blazers are now 3-1 when leading at halftime and 3-2 at Claire Lynch Hall.
 
The Blazers rolled out of the gates as if winning a conference championship was Head Coach Mike Durbin's New Years Resolution, running out to a 14-6 lead over the Royals. The Royals would never be able to climb out of that hole, and the Blazers ran the lead up to 35-21 at halftime. The Blazers shot 4-of-8 (50.0%) from three-point land in the first half, including 3-of-4 shooting from Emily Lueck.
 
After giving up a ten-point halftime lead earlier this week against Iowa Wesleyan, the Blazers closed this one aggressively. With six minutes to play, a layup from Royal guard Hannah Niewald closed the gap to seven at 53-46. That however, was the closest the Royals would come to tying the game, as the Blazers made seven-of-eight free throws down the stretch to quell the Royal comeback.
 
Royal forward Rachel Parupsky led all scorers with 17, but sat on the bench for much of the second half with foul trouble--thanks in part to several dribble drives by senior forward Elena Koch. Emily Lueck led all Blazers with 14 points. Mattie Lueck blocked three shots to increase her season average to an impressive 2.5 blocks per game.
 

MIAC Leaders in Blocks Per Game	School	BPG
Rachel Parupsky (Jr.)	Bethel	3.7
Alex Peterson (Fy.)	Hamline	2.6
Mattie Lueck (Jr.)	CSB	2.5
Niki Fokken (Fy.)	CSB	2.2
Nnenna Ezem (Fy.)	Carleton	1.8

Perhaps the most important stat line of the game was the Blazers 24-for-32 (75%) shooting from the charity stripe. Coming into today, the most free throws they had made in a game was 15 (they shot 15-for-26 against Martin Luther on Dec. 9th). Nobody on the team made more than four free throws, but seven players made at least two, as the Blazers spread the scoring around against the Royals.
 
The Blazers will have their next opportunity to improve upon their conference record next Wednesday (Jan. 7th) when they will head to St. Paul to take on the Hamline Pipers. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.