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ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict basketball team had a win over conference opponent Macalester earlier this week, and CSB looks to stay on track Saturday back at home. With a record of 14-6, the Blazers will be back in Claire Lynch Hall to take on the Saint Mary's Cardinals for their tenth consecutive MIAC game. The game takes places at 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 6, in St. Joseph.

As well as taking on one of the top teams in the league, CSB is also celebrating National Girls and Women in Sport Day Saturday. The day starts at 1 p.m. with a basketball clinic for athletes in kindergarten through sixth grade. At 2 p.m., Shelley Boyum-Breen – this year's Breaking Barriers Award winner – will read her books, the Shelley Bean Sports Queen series – to young athletes in O'Connell's. Boyum-Breen will be honored at halftime of the Blazer game.
 
About the Cardinals: The Cardinals started out their season with eight straight wins before losing to UW-Stevens Point. From there they have gone 9-2 and are 11-2 in conference play. The Cardinals will be heading into the game against the Blazers coming off of a 62-60 win over St. Catherine and looking to stay in first place in the MIAC tied with St. Thomas. 

Last Meeting: The Cardinals beat the Blazers 75-67 on Nov. 22 at CSB in the two teams' first meeting this year. The Cardinals and Blazers were tied at halftime with a score of 27-27, but the Cardinals took control in the second half to beat the Blazers. Morgan Merritt led CSB with 18 points and Grace Wolhowe added 16 more points.

The Storyline: The Blazers have now won seven of their last nine games, all against conference opponents. They will be looking to improve their home record of 6-4. St. Mary's will be heading into this matchup coming off of an upset loss to Augsburg and two narrow victories over Carleton and St. Catherine's. The Blazers will be looking to improve their MIAC record of 9-4. CSB is tied with Gustavus for fourth in the MIAC with five games remaining.

What to Watch: Niki Fokken currently leads the Blazers with 10.3 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. Annie Dittberner averages another 8.8 points per game and Alison Newton averages 2.7 assists per game. Grace Wolhowe is currently leading the MIAC with a .474 three-point percentage.

Last Time Out: In their last game, the Blazers beat Macalester by a score of 65-51. In the first quarter, the Scots shot well and had four steals to get out to a 13-10 lead. The Blazers out-played the Royals and took the lead in the second quarter, and went into the locker rooms up 33-30.  In the third quarter the Blazers outscored the Scots by a 17-5 margin. The Blazers entered the final quarter tied with a 15 point lead.  The Blazers maintained their lead in the final quarter to get a 65-51 win over Macalester, in a great team defensive effort that created 20 turnovers and six blocks.  Marcy Kelly led the team with 14 points and had eight rebounds. Fokken added 10 points, and Guetter had 11 points.