ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – On Valentine's Day, the College of Saint Benedict basketball team snagged an early lead and Gustavus and held the Gusties off down the stretch for the win. Thursday night, Gustavus turned that scenario around.
The Gusties led 15-9 after one quarter Thursday and held off a late CSB rally for a 61-53 win in a MIAC semifinal game in Claire Lynch Hall. Gustavus (22-5) moves on to Saturday's MIAC Championship game against St. Thomas, which will be played at 3 p.m. in St. Paul. The Tommies beat Saint Mary's 65-44 in the other semifinal game to move on to the championship.
CSB is now 22-4 and must wait until the NCAA Selection Show Monday to learn if it is back in the national tournament for the first time since 2008-09. The winner of Saturday's conference championship game earns the league's automatic bid; everyone else must wait to see if they earn at-large bids during the selection show, which airs at 1:30 p.m. CST.
After getting down 13-4 in the first quarter Thursday night,
Megan Thompson scored and
Maddie Schmitz hit a three for CSB to make it a four-point game, 13-9, but Mikayla Miller hit a pair of free throws late in the first to make it a six-point game, 15-9, at the first break.
A three by
Chelsey Guetter made it a three-point game to start the second, but Miller responded with a three of her own to spark a 13-0 Gustavus run that ended with a 28-12 lead for the Gusties with 4:16 left in the second.
Kate Banovetz scored to stop the run, and Thompson had a basket and two free throws and
Niki Fokken scored to cut the gap to nine, 30-21, at halftime.
The Gusties hit a pair of buckets to start the second half, but after Justine Lee's jumper with 7:09 left in the third, Saint Benedict went on a 13-5 run to end the quarter and make it a five-point game, 39-34. A pair of baskets by
Sidney Schiffler and a three-point play from
Alex Johnson made it a four-point game, 34-30, with 2:47 left in the third, but Gustavus added a layup and a 3-pointer to help maintain its lead.
A layup by Fokken made it a three-point game again to start the fourth, 39-36, but Gustavus responded with a quick 6-0 run to push the gap back to nine, 45-36. A three by Schmitz and later a bucket from Fokken cut the gap to five, but the Gusties always had an answer, and held on down the stretch for the win.
Fokken finished with a game-high 20 points to lead CSB and is now just eight points away from the 1,000-point milestone. Schmitz had nine points on 3-of-4 shooting from long range, and Guetter led the team with six rebounds. CSB shot 44.4 percent from the field, went 9-for-16 from the line and had 28 rebounds and 16 turnovers.
Gustavus used those 16 turnovers to score 26 points and also got 16 second-chance points on 10 offensive rebounds. The Gusties had 35 total rebounds and 13 turnovers. Justine Lee finished with 16 points and Miller and Miranda Rice also scored in double digits. Gustavus shot 42.6 percent from the field and went 10-for-16 from the line.
