ST. PAUL, Minn. – A pair of seven-point quarters proved to be costly for the College of Saint Benedict basketball team in a 54-36 loss to No. 19 St. Thomas Wednesday night.
The Tommies held a slim 8-7 lead after one quarter, but outscored CSB 17-7 in the second to pull away and the Blazers were unable to overcome their slow start in a MIAC game in St. Paul, Minn. Saint Benedict is now 9-5 overall and 4-3 in the MIAC while St. Thomas improves to 11-3 overall and 5-2 in the league.
After ending the first quarter down a single point, CSB took a lead early in the second on a layup by
Niki Fokken, and
Alison Newton made another layup to make it 11-8 in favor of CSB. The Tommies made it a one-point game, but
Chelsey Guetter scored to allow CSB to hold onto its lead.
That was the last lead of the game for the Blazers, however, as St. Thomas scored with 3:49 left to go up 14-13 and end the second quarter on a 13-1 run to take a 25-14 lead at halftime.
After the Tommies pushed their lead to 13, 27-14, early in the third quarter, baskets by
Annie Dittberner, Guetter and Newton made it a nine-point game, 29-20, and
Macy Kelly cut the gap to seven with 6:19 left in the third. But St. Thomas scored and hit a 3-pointer to push the gap back to 10, and the Tommies maintained a double-digit lead the remainder of the game.
Fokken finished with 11 points to lead CSB and Newton added nine. Kelly and Fokken both had four rebounds and Fokken also had three blocked shots. The Blazers shot 30 percent from the field – including just 1-for-11 from long range – went 9-for-22 from the line and had 24 rebounds and 18 turnovers.
Kaitlin Langer led St. Thomas with 13 points and seven rebounds and three players added eight points for the Tommies. St. Thomas shot 40 percent from the field, went 5-for-14 from long range and 9-for-12 from the free-throw line and had 43 rebounds and 25 turnovers.
Wednesday's game marked the first of five road games for Saint Benedict, which is at Augsburg for a 3 p.m. game Saturday, Jan. 16, in Minneapolis.
