ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – Saturday afternoon,
Niki Fokken tied her career-high for rebounds in a game. Wednesday night, she followed that up with a new career-high scoring performance.
Fokken scored 28 points – surpassing her previous career-high of 25 – to lead the College of Saint Benedict basketball team to a 66-44 win over Macalester Wednesday night in Claire Lynch. The win was the first by more than four points for CSB since it defeated Buena Vista by 10 on Nov. 24.
Fokken scored six of the first eight points of the game for Saint Benedict (7-1, 2-0), which led 12-4 midway through the first quarter, and pushed its lead to nine on a pair of free throws by Fokken with three minutes left in the first.
Breanna Gates hit a three in the final 50 seconds of the quarter to give CSB a 21-13 lead.
A layup by
Chelsey Guetter made it a 10-point game to start the second, but the Scots (2-4, 1-1) chipped away at the lead, and a pair of threes and two free throws made it 27-25 with just under five minutes left in the first half. Macalester hung around, and a layup as time expired made it a three-point game, 32-29, at halftime.
The Scots scored a few baskets early in the third to hang around, but Fokken scored three baskets and
Kate Banovetz hit a layup to push CSB's lead to 11, 44-33, with 4:47 left. Macalester cut the lead to single digits, but
Maddie Schmitz scored late in the third to give CSB a 49-39 lead heading into the final quarter.
Fokken scored and Gates hit another three to start the fourth and push CSB's lead to 15, 54-39, and that set the tone for the final quarter. A layup and a free throw by Schmtiz late in the quarter pushed Saint Benedict's lead to 20 for the first time, and from there CSB held on for the win.
Fokken went 12-for-21 from the field and 4-for-6 from the line for her 28 points, and she also had six rebounds and three blocked shots. Guetter finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds and Banovetz added 10 points for CSB, which shot 44 percent from the field and went 12-for-20 from the line. Schmitz also added nine rebounds as CSB had 45 rebounds to the Scots' 35. CSB also had 13 turnovers.
Regan Fruh led Macalester with 16 points and Tyana Loiselle added 10. Leah Gray finished with 11 rebounds. The Scots shot 30.5 percent from the field, went 5-for-8 from the line and had 16 turnovers.
Saint Benedict is at home once more before the holiday break Saturday, Dec. 9, when it hosts St. Olaf at 3 p.m. After that, CSB isn't home again until hosting St. Kate's on Jan. 10.
