ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – In the 2022-23 home opener, the College of Saint Benedict Women's Basketball Team (2-0, 1-0 MIAC) will host Gustavus Adolphus (3-0, 1-0) at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 22 at Claire Lynch Hall.

CSB, which has five returning starters and several others who saw action a year ago on a 15-11 team, has opened the season with pair of road wins, including a 57-52 decision over Minnesota Morris and a 63-59 overtime win at St. Olaf.  With the victory, CSB is now 2-0 overall and sit 1-0 in the MIAC. Gustavus Adolphus has opened 3-0 with a 1-0 league mark. In the last 10 seasons, the Bennies sit 10-0 in home openers overall and 7-3 in home MIAC home openers.

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Series Notes
CSB owns a 50-30 margin in the all-time series with Gustavus. In the last matchup, Gustavus took a 57-36 win on Feb. 16, 2022. The Bennies have lost three straight but have a 27-14 margin at home, 23-16 road mark and 47-25 record in conference play. The Gusties have won six of the last 10 matchups. However, the Bennies won the first matchup between the schools, 87-69 on Dec. 14, 1981. Gustavus won the second game on Jan. 12, 1983, 80-59, as the two programs split the first six meetings until CSB won four straight from Dec. 9, 1987 to Jan. 25, 1989. And, from Jan. 4, 1992 until Feb. 22, 1997, the Bennies won 11 straight games.

Breaking Down Gustavus
Gustavus has opened the season with three straight wins, including an 85-45 win in St. Peter, Minn., over Saint Mary in its most recent game. They opened the season with a 72-53 win over Wisconsin-Stout and took a 76-73 decision over Simpson (Iowa) in the home opener. Head Coach Laura Kelley is in her 11^th season as head coach. In her career, she has 392 career wins. This season, Gustavus in second in the league in scoring at 77.7 points per game while allowing 57.0 points per outing. Anna Sanders leads the team with 16.3 points and 5.33 rebounds per game with Kylie Baranick is supplying 10.33 points per game. The Gusties hit 37 percent from three-point range, 47.3 percent from the field while grabbing 42.0 rebounds per game.

CSB Schedule Breakdown 
Following the match up against the Gusties, CSB will hit the road to Duluth, Minn., where they will face the College of St. Scholastica at 7 p.m. on Nov. 30. Then, the Bennies will play five games in December, including two at home. They host Augsburg at 3 p.m. on Dec. 3 and Macalester College at 7 p.m. on Dec. 7 at Claire Lynch Hall. CSB will travel to Hamline in St. Paul, Minn., on Dec. 10 for a 3 p.m. contest. The Bennies close 2022 by playing at the Big Island Classic in Hilo, Hawaii including games with Worcester State on Dec. 18 and DePauw on Dec. 19 with both contests at Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium. After Jan. 1, 2023, CSB plays 15 games starting with a road trip to St. Catherine on Jan. 4. The MIAC Tournament Championship begins on Feb. 21 with the quarterfinals. The league title game is 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 25.
 
Inside Look at CSB WBB
CSB is a veteran squad which returns All-MIAC point guard Carla Meyer along with All-MIAC honorable mention standouts Sophia Jonas and Gabby Martin. In addition, senior Tori Szathmary was named to the All-MIAC Sportsmanship Team while Lydia Hay also returns as a starter.
 
CSB Head Coach Mike Durbin, who has 718 career wins, is ranked in the top 20 coaches in wins regardless of the division.  
 
CSB opened with 57-52 win over Minnesota Morris on the road
Sophomore Sophia Jonas knocked down five threes and scored 15 points to lead CSB past Minnesota-Morris, 57-52, on Nov. 12 on the road. Both Olivia Boily (12 points and 7 rebounds) and Abigail Kubouchek (10 points and 7 rebounds) had career-highs in points and helped CSB to a 22-14 advantage in bench scoring. With the win, CSB improved its series lead over UMM to 12-3 with a 12^th straight win in the series.

Bennies win MIAC opener in overtime at St. Olaf
Carla Meyer, Sophia Jonas and Tori Szathmary scored in double-digits and sparked a second-half rally as the College of Saint Benedict (2-0, 1-0 MIAC) opened MIAC play with a 63-59 road win in overtime over St. Olaf (3-1, 0-1) on Nov. 19. Trailing 32-28 at halftime, the Bennies outscored the Oles, 28-24 in the second half to force overtime. With a 7-3 advantage in the extra session, CSB earned the victory in the closely contested league contest. The key play in the second half (overtime) was from junior forward Lydia Hay (seven points), who converted a three-point play with 16 seconds left to give the Bennies a 61-59 lead. Then, Szathmary had a pair of foul shots late to help the Bennies to the win. It was the 10^th straight victory in the series for the Bennies, which owns a 63-10 all-time mark. Senior center Tori Szathmary recorded the fourth double-double of her career with 14 points and tied a career-high with 13 rebounds (Augsburg, March 3, 2021). In her ninth career double-digit scoring game, Szathmary was 4-of-10 from the floor, hit 1-of-2 from three-point range and 5-6 at the foul line. With the 13 rebounds, she surpassed 300 rebounds for her career (305). Sophomore guard Sophia Jonas continued her sharpshooting from the perimeter by scoring 15 points for the second straight game. She was 4-of-8 from three-point range and had two rebounds. Junior guard Carla Meyer led the team with 18 points.

Bennies Player Notes
Guard Carla Meyer, a junior from New Brighton, Minn., has scored double digits in 22 of 25 games (30 double-digit career scoring games), including a career-best 26 points against Bethel on Feb. 2, 2022. Meyer, who has made four threes in a game five times, has totaled 477 points, 162 rebounds, 74 three-pointers (34.6 percent), 35 games, 34 starts, 40 steals and 124 assists.
 
Gabby Martin, a senior from Pillager, Minn., scored a career-high 17 points against St. Olaf on Feb. 9, 2022 and has a high of eight rebounds at St. Scholastica on Nov. 20, 2021 with a high of six assists also against St. Olaf on Feb. 9, 2022. She had five steals on Jan. 10, 2022, against St. Olaf on the road for her career best. Martin, who has made 20 career threes at CSB, now has 265 career points and 115 rebounds in playing in her second year with the program.
  
Tori Szathmary  has four career double-doubles, including the latest against St. Olaf on Nov. 19, 2022. She has nine double-digit rebounds totals with a career-high in rebounds of 13 against Augsburg on the road on March 3, 2021, and against St. Olaf on Nov. 22, 22022. She set a career-best in points with 17 against Bethany Lutheran on Nov. 13, 2021. Originally of Lakewood, Colo., she has played in 58 games at CSB. Szathmary has scored double-digits nine times. Szathmary has 286 career points with 305 career rebounds and 21 blocked shots. She has twice made two threes in a game and has 17 made triples in her career.
 
Junior forward Lydia Hay  has recorded five double-digit scoring games, and reached double digits in rebounds once (11, Wisconsin-Superior, 11/23/21). Originally of Maple Grove, Minn., Hay, who has 169 points and 107 rebounds in her career, scored a career-best 14 points against Macalester on 12/11/21.
 
Sophomore wing Sophia Jonas has scored 15 points in each of her first two games this season. She now has 11 career double-digit scoring games. She matched her career-best of five made threes in the opener. On Jan. 10, 2022, against St. Olaf, she had five threes and set her career high with 23 points. Eleven times, she has hit three or more three-pointers in a game. She has 234 career points, 53 made three-pointers and 53 rebounds.

Sophomore Olivia Boily set a career-best with 12 points while grabbing seven rebounds against Minnesota-Morris in the opener on Nov. 12, 2022. She now has played in 25 games with 125 points and 116 rebounds.

Abigail Kuboushek, a sophomore from Prior Lake, Minn., opened her sophomore season by setting a career-best with 10 points and seven rebounds vs. Minnesota Morris. She also had two made three-point shots. Kubouchek, who also recorded her first-double-digit scoring game against UMM this year, now has 43 points and 37 rebounds in her career in 18 games.
 
CSB Head Coach Mike Durbin has 718 career wins
Durbin, who is in his 37th season with the Bennies in 2022-23, recorded his 700th win at home (Claire Lynch Hall) on Feb. 24, 2021, in an 88-83 win over the University of St. Thomas. This season, the Bennies stand 2-0 overall and 1-0 in MIAC play. In 36 seasons, Durbin has recorded 32 winning teams, coached 70 All-MIAC First Team selections, 54 honorable mention athletes, 15 players All-MIAC Defensive Team members and 15 all-first year team picks. Overall, he has a 718-264 record, including 714-242 with the Saint Ben's program. Under Durbin's direction, CSB has averaged nearly 20 wins a season for nearly 40 years and has won or shared 13 MIAC championship titles. CSB has finished in the top four in the conference 29 times in his 36 seasons at the helm. CSB has also competed in the NCAA Tournament 17 times in Durbin's 36 years, including eight NCAA Sweet 16 appearances, three Elite 8 appearances and two NCAA Final Four appearances. In 2015-16, Durbin guided CSB to the 500th MIAC win in program history since joining the league in 1985. Saint Benedict is the third program to reach the milestone and was the last team to join the conference. He holds a 557-173 mark in conference play. He is 19th in the NCAA in total wins regardless of division. During the summer of 2003, Durbin was inducted into the Minnesota High School Girls Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. On Dec. 1, 2001, against Macalester at Claire Lynch Hall, Durbin surpassed former University of St. Thomas head coach Ted Riverso to become the winningest coach in MIAC women's basketball history. In 1992-93, Saint Benedict made its first appearance in the NCAA Final Four, and then repeated that accomplishment just six years later. In the 1998-99 season, he led CSB to the NCAA Championship game, finishing as the national runner-up with a 74-65 loss to Washington University (Mo). Four CSB basketball players have received MIAC Player of the Year honors, nine have received All-American Honors and five have received Academic All-American honors. Under Durbin's watch, 20 players have surpassed the 1,000-point milestone in their careers. Durbin, the eldest of nine children, was born and raised in Howard, Ohio. At East Knox High School, he competed in basketball and football. After his high school graduation in 1977, Durbin attended Kent State University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in communication and public relations in 1981. He later earned a master's degree from Ashland College in sports administration. He served as an interim coach at Wittenberg University (Springfield, Ohio) for one year before coming to CSB in 1986.