ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – Gustavus has handed the College of Saint Benedict basketball team some tough losses in the last few seasons. Wednesday night, however, Saint Benedict was able to return the favor.
 
CSB sealed up a top-two MIAC finish with a 66-62 win over the Gusties Wednesday in Claire Lynch Hall. Saint Benedict is now 22-2 overall and 16-1 and alone in second in the MIAC with a single game remaining. CSB ends the regular season Saturday at St. Thomas – the only team ahead of CSB in the standings. The top-two finish gives CSB a bye in the first round of the MIAC Tournament, and gives Saint Benedict home-court advantage in the semifinals Thursday, Feb. 22.
 
Wednesday's win marked Saint Benedict's first over the Gusties (19-5, 13-4) since Jan. 20, 2016. CSB is now 3-6 against Gustavus in the last nine meetings of the two teams. Of those six losses, four were by five points or less.
 
Saint Benedict stormed out of the gates with a three by Chelsey Guetter to start the game and took an 11-2 lead thanks to another three from Guetter and one from Megan Thompson. Kate Banovetz converted a three-point play, and later Courtney Nelson hit a three to help CSB to a 25-12 lead after one quarter in Claire Lynch. CSB shot nearly 63 percent from the field in the first quarter, and Guetter had 10 points.
 
Gustavus cut the gap to nine to start the second, but Guetter and Thompson scored and Maddie Schmitz hit a three to push the lead back to 16, 32-16, with 5:10 remaining in the half. Breanna Gates scored late in the half to make it a 12-point game, 38-26, heading into the break.
 
A three-point play by Guetter made it a 15-point game early in the third before the Gusties started to claw their way back into it. They cut the lead to seven, then four, and a late Gustavus layup made it a 49-43 game heading into the final quarter.
 
Gustavus kept CSB's lead in single digits to start the fourth, but Niki Fokken scored on a layup then converted a three-point play to push the lead back to 11, 60-49. Banovetz scored to make it a 13-point game, but Gustavus went on a 13-2 run to make it a two-point game, 64-62, with 34 seconds left. Sidney Schiffler hit one free throw to push the lead to three, Gustavus missed a short jumper, then Banovetz hit a free throw after being fouled to put the lead at four with eight seconds left to seal the win.
 
Guetter finished with 18 points and nine rebounds to lead CSB, which shot 49 percent from the field. Fokken added 13 points and seven rebounds and Banovetz had eight points. Fokken also had four assists for CSB, which went 8-for-19 from the line and had 33 rebounds and 11 turnovers.
 
Miranda Rice led Gustavus with 18 points and Justine Lee added 17. The Gusties shot 40 percent from the field and went 9-for-12 from the line. They had 37 rebounds and 11 turnovers.
 
CSB wraps up the 2017-18 regular season Saturday at No. 8 St. Thomas.