ST. JOSEPH, Minn. -- Beginning a 24-hour stretch that includes a game at home and one over five hours away, and coming off a tough road loss just three days earlier, College of Saint Benedict basketball sophomore Kira Young said it was important for her team to build some momentum Saturday afternoon (Dec. 9).
 
That's just what the Bennies did, overcoming a slow start to top Macalester, 66-58, in MIAC women's basketball action at Claire Lynch Hall.
 
Young, who now has six career double-digit scoring games (all in 2023-24), led the way for CSB (4-1 MIAC, 6-2 overall) with 11 points and seven rebounds. The Bennies now sit 4-1 in the conference and have moved into third place. In the win, CSB used balanced scoring with seven players scoring between eight and 11 points.
 
"This was really big, especially going into our game tomorrow," said Young, whose team will board a bus at 7 a.m. Sunday to travel to Grinnell (Iowa) College (6-3) for a non-conference match-up scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. "It helps a lot with our confidence going into a long road trip."
 
The Bennies (who were coming off a 77-61 loss at Concordia this past Wednesday) came out a bit cold, shooting just 4-for-16 (25 percent) from the field in the first quarter - and just 1-for-8 from 3-point range. That allowed Macalester to take a 13-11 lead.
 
But things picked up from there. Young scored all seven of her first-half points in the second quarter and CSB went 9-for-19 from the field en route to taking a 33-23 halftime lead.
 
"We just had confidence in each other," said Bennies senior forward Lydia Hay, who finished with eight points and three rebounds. "Today, our defense really stood out. We've been working on that a lot.
 
"Getting rebounds and getting stops on defense helped us transition into our offense. For a while, our shots weren't falling. But we knew we just had to keep shooting and they would come," Hay said.
 
The Bennies finished 7-for-13 from the field in the third quarter and led 46-40. The lead grew as wide as 13 (56-43) on a layup by sophomore Megan Morgan with 6:10 remaining. But the Scots (2-4, 4-5) did not go gently, rallying to cut the gap to just four (62-58) on a jumper by junior Katherine Norquist with 1:13 left to play.
 
However, CSB went 4-for-6 from the free throw line the rest of the way to put the game out of reach.
 
Senior Carla Meyer finished with 10 points and six rebounds. Junior Sophia Jonas added 10 points and six rebounds. For Meyer, she had her 57th career double-digit scoring game and Jonas had her 32nd. For the third time this year, junior forward Morgan Chmielewski tied her career best with nine points and Megan Driste also matched her career high with eight points, including a key three-pointer in the fourth quarter. But it was Young - who is now averaging 11.6 points and 6.1 rebounds per game in her first season as a starter - who led the way.
 
"I've always been a guard, but this year I've been filling a role as more of a forward," said Young, who averaged just 5.6 minutes and 1.7 points per game as a first-year last season. "That's been a little bit different, but it's been a good thing.
 
"It seems to be working out."