ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict basketball team played a tough game Wednesday night at Claire Lynch and used a big second half to finish with a 73-54 MIAC win over Saint Mary's.
 
With this win, the Blazers are now sitting with an overall record of 11-11 and have gone 8-7 in conference play. With three games left in the regular season, the Blazers are tied with Augsburg for sixth in the MIAC. Both teams have 8-7 MIAC records. The top six teams in the conference earn a spot in the postseason tournament.
 
In the first half, the Blazers jumped out to an early 9-2 lead. They maintained this lead for most of the first half until the Cardinals took a 25-24 lead with under four minutes remaining in the half. The two teams continued to fight back and forth until halftime where the Blazers trailed by a score of 30-27. Mattie Lueck led the offense with 10 points in the half and Niki Fokken added another four points and seven rebounds.
 
After trailing at halftime, Saint Benedict came out and shut down the Cardinals' offense in the second half. The Blazers went on a huge 18-0 run to take a 45-30 lead just six minutes into the second half, and didn't allow Saint Mary's to score for more than six minutes to start the second half.
 
The Blazers expanded this lead over the next six minutes and held a 61-39 lead with eight minutes remaining in the game. By the end of the night, Lueck racked up 23 points and 11 rebounds. Annie Dittberner and Abby Miller each also added another 11 points and Fokken finished with eight rebounds and five points. Alison Newton also had six assists.
 
CSB shot 47.3 percent from the field for the game. The Blazers shot just under 48 percent in the first half and just under 47 percent in the second half. CSB had 44 rebounds and 13 turnovers.
 
Emma Schaefer led Saint Mary's with 10 points and Sam Jones finished with nine. Molly O'Toole and Alexa Huisman each had six rebounds. The Cardinals shot 35 percent from the field and had 32 rebounds and 12 turnovers.
 
The Blazers will move on to face off against Carleton College on Saturday, Feb. 14, in Northfield at 1 p.m. With only three games remaining in the regular season, the Blazers will be looking to use tonight's big win to their advantage as they close out the regular season.