MINNEAPOLIS – Trailing Augsburg by six at halftime, and not having looked particularly crisp, College of Saint Benedict basketball coach Mike Durbin left his players with a question Saturday afternoon.
 
Junior Carla Meyer and the Bennies answered rather resoundingly in the final two quarters of play to record a third-straight win.
 
"He told us it was a rough first half and asked us how we were going to respond," said Meyer, who finished with 22 points – 16 of them coming in the second half – as her team rallied to beat the Auggies 67-63 in MIAC action at Si Melby Hall. With the win, CSB pulled off a season sweep of Augsburg, including an 82-68 win at home on Dec. 3.
 
"He kind of left it for us to decide. We knew we had to start playing better as a team. We had to start limiting our turnovers and playing together. And that's just what we did," said Meyer, who had her first career double-double with 22 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. For Meyer, she now has 41 double-digit scoring games in her career with 13 this season. She had her third 20-point game this season as she leads CSB with 14.6 points per game.
 
Indeed, CSB (9-4 MIAC, 12-4 overall) began the third quarter on an 11-0 run, capped by a lay-up by Meyer that put the Bennies on top, 35-30. The lead grew as wide as seven before the Auggies (6-7, 9-7) cut it to one twice early in the fourth quarter.
 
But both times, CSB answered with 3-pointers – first from Meyer, then from sophomore Sophia Jonas, who finished the afternoon with 11 points and now has 14 double-digit games this season with 22 for her career. With Meyer hitting 10-of-14 shots, the Bennies had a season-best 53.8 field goal percentage (28-of-52) and made 7-of-18 from three-point range.
 
"We've already played in a lot of one-possession games this season and I think that helps when we get in those situations," said Durbin, who pushed his career win total to 727. "I'd still like to see us get off to better starts and hold leads a little better. But we made plays when we had to today, and the start of the second half was about as good as we can play."
 
A jumper by sophomore Olivia Boily put the Bennies up by eight with just under two minutes to go, but Augsburg refused to fade away – cutting the lead back to only two (65-63) when senior Jaley Coplin hit a 3-pointer with four seconds remaining.
 
Coplin finished with a game-high 27 points. But CSB got a lay-up from first-year Megan Morgan as time expired to seal the win as CSB improved to 7-1 in road contests. Morgan tied her career-high with eight points. CSB, which had nine points from Lydia Hay, eight from Boily and seven from Gabby Martin, now returns home for a pair of contests at the friendly confines of Claire Lynch Hall, beginning with St. Scholastica on Wednesday, Jan. 25. 
 
"This was a big confidence-booster for us," added Meyer, whose team is now fourth in the conference at 9-4. "We really needed this win. We'd beaten Augsburg earlier this season, but to come down here and win on the road means a lot. Hopefully, it will really help when it comes to the playoffs, and it builds more momentum."