ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict basketball team used a fast start to roll to win No. 13 on the season Wednesday night when it beat St. Kate's 75-47 in Claire Lynch Hall.
Chelsey Guetter scored the first nine points of the game to give CSB an early lead, and from there the team overpowered the Wildcats – who are without two of their main players – to improve to 13-1 overall and 7-0 in the MIAC.
This marks the best start for Saint Benedict since 2003-04 when the team went 15-1 to start en route to a 21-5 overall finish. It marks the best conference start for CSB since 2009-10 when it also started 7-0 in the MIAC before losing to Concordia in early January 2010.
Guetter hit a pair of threes to help CSB to a 9-3 lead early Wednesday night, and
Sidney Schiffler and
Haylee Fingalsen each added a three to put Saint Benedict up 20-11 after one quarter. Schiffler hit back-to-back 3-pointers to start the second quarter and make it a 13-point game, 26-13, and a layup by Guetter and another three from Schiffler made it a 20-point game, 33-13, with 6:54 left in the second.
Guetter hit a pair of threes and
Maddie Schmitz made a three – the team's 10th of the first half – to help CSB to a 46-21 halftime lead.
Megan Thompson started the third quarter with a three to kick start CSB's offense, and
Sophie Koeppl added one final three late in the final quarter to push the team's total to 12 on the night. Saint Benedict ended the game shooting just under 43 percent from long range.
Guetter finished the night with 17 points to lead CSB, which went 12-for-28 from long range and shot 44.6 percent overall from the field. Schiffler added 13 points and Thompson and
Breanna Gates each added nine. Guetter also had nine rebounds and
Kate Banovetz added six. CSB went 13-for-19 from the line and had 39 rebounds and 16 turnovers.
Ashley Forness paced St. Kate's with 12 points and Morgan Kurth added nine. Meg Clark led the team with seven rebounds. The Wildcats shot 30 percent from the field and hit four 3-pointers. They went 9-for-13 from the line and had 33 rebounds and 22 turnovers.
Saint Benedict is back on the road for two games before returning home to host No. 16 St. Thomas on Jan. 20. CSB takes on Augsburg in Minneapolis on Jan. 13 and then travels to St. Paul to take on Macalester on Jan. 17.
