DULUTH, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict basketball team protected the ball and forced St. Scholastica into more than 20 turnovers Saturday afternoon as the Bennies started MIAC play with a 61-49 win over the Saints in Duluth.
 
Saturday marked the first meeting between the two teams since 2017, and the first MIAC game between the Bennies and Saints. It also marked head coach Mike Durbin's 700^th win at Saint Benedict. He surpassed the 700-win milestone in his overall career – which also includes one season at Wittenberg – in February.
 
Both teams struggled offensively in the first quarter as they combined for eight field goals, but the Bennies (3-0, 1-0) headed into the second with a 12-8 lead. CSB's defense was strong in the second quarter, and the Saints put up just eight field-goal attempts while making four.

Two of those four field goals came early in the second and put St. Scholastica (0-3, 0-1) up 13-12, but Lydia Hay scored, and Gabby Martin added a basket a short time later, and the Bennies never trailed again. Scholastica tied the game with just over two minutes left in the half, but Tori Szathmary hit a three, and the Bennies maintained a 26-19 lead at halftime.
 
A three from Hay gave the Bennies a 10-point lead for the first time less than three minutes into the third quarter, but the Saints kept pushing. They cut the gap to four, 34-30, but Carla Meyer hit two free throws and Hay hit a three to make it an eight-point game, 39-31. A three from Madison Doran gave CSB a double-digit lead again, 42-31 with three minutes left in the quarter, but the Saints made it a four-point game, 46-42, heading into the final 10 minutes.
 
CSB's defense was out in full force in the final quarter, and gave up just seven points the rest of the way. St. Scholastica cut the lead to two to start the quarter, but Szathmary scored to spark a 9-1 run that ended with CSB up 10, 55-45, with two minutes left in the game. Meyer and Hay combined to go 6-for-6 from the line in the final 30 seconds to help ice the win.
 
Szathmary finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds to pace the Bennies, who shot 31 percent from the field. Hay and Meyer both had 13 points and Martin had eight rebounds. CSB went 13-for-26 from the free-throw line, had 44 rebounds and committed just eight turnovers.
 
Megan Hurley led the Saints with 16 points and Eve Turner had nine rebounds. St. Scholastica shot 34 percent from the field, went 8-for-14 from the line and had 46 rebounds and 23 turnovers.
 
The Bennies are back in action Tuesday, Nov. 23, when they travel to Superior, Wis., for a nonconference game against UW-Superior.