ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – On a night in which Carla Meyer became the 21^st player in school history to reach 1,000 career points, she and her College of Saint Benedict teammates had their biggest offensive output in over two years with a dominating 87-63 decision over St. Olaf in MIAC play on Wednesday, Jan. 3 at Claire Lynch Hall.

With the victory, CSB won its fifth game in seven decisions and moved to 7-3 on the season. In addition, they are now 5-1 in the MIAC and sit in third place, just a half-game behind Concordia (6-1). St. Olaf is now 2-8 overall with a 1-5 mark in league play. The 87 points is the most in a game by the Bennies since an 87-66 nonconference win over Bethany Lutheran on Nov. 13, 2021. It is the most points in conference play since an 88-83 win against St. Thomas on Feb. 24, 2021.
 

Before a large group of family and friends gathered for this special night, Meyer, a senior from New Brighton, Minn., scored 23 points with three rebounds and two assists. She hit 11-of-16 shots from the field and knocked in her 133^rd career three-point field goal as she surpassed 1,000-career points.

Meyer reached the milestone with a jumper at the 4:20 mark of the third quarter.

Coming into the game, she had 981 points and by tallying 23 points tonight, she increased her career total to 1,004, moving into the program's top 20 all-time and past Brianna Barrett who had 1,003 points in 82 games from 2010-14. The last player at CSB to reach 1,000 was Niki Fokken in 2018 as she finished with 1,018 in her career. Meyer and Jennifer Nash (1982-85) are the only players to reach 1,000 points in 73 or fewer games as Nash had 1,071 in 73 games and Meyer reached the milestone in 70 games.

"I have to hand it to my teammates," said an elated Meyer after the game. "They kept feeding me the ball and pushed me all-night. They are such a great group of friends. This is a team award. We did it together," she said.

CSB head coach Mike Durbin was pleased with the performance of Meyer, a two-time All-MIAC performer, who now has eight career 20-point games and 59 career double-digit scoring games. And, he also noted contributions of the other seniors - Morgan Ebel and Lydia Hay - as essential to the explosive offensive performance from his team.

"I am really excited for Carla. She has turned out to be one of the fastest players to reach 1,000-points in school history," said Durbin. "She is a remarkable player and person. And she is part of a senior group that stepped up and shined tonight. I was very pleased with the performance of this team tonight. It was an effort driven by the leadership of the seniors," he said.

Joining Meyer in double-digits was Ebel, who had career-highs with 15 points and five triples (10 attempts). Ebel also had a steal and three rebounds. Senior forward Lydia Hay also starred for CSB with 12 points, two rebounds and two assists. In addition, sophomore Ashleigh Steinbach had a career-high five points as she also made her first three-pointer of her career. First-year Cora Beeler had a career-high with four points.

CSB also a solid effort from junior forward Morgan Chmielewski with nine points (tying her career-high for a fourth time this year) and four rebounds with two assists. Kira Young added nine points and five rebounds.

For the game, the Bennies knocked down a season-high of 54.2 percent of its shots from the field, making 32-of-59. CSB also converted on 12-of-28 three-pointers as they tied their season high of 12 triples which they set against Grinnell on Dec. 10.  CSB was also 11-of-17 from the foul line for 64.7 percent and owned a 36-to-26 margin in bench scoring, led by the play of Ebel and Chmielewski. The Bennies also held a 16-to-14 margin in points off turnovers.

Game Summary
CSB jumped to a 22-10 lead after one quarter of play as they made 8-of-19 field goals for 42.1 percent. They were 3-of-7 from three-point range in the opening quarter. CSB extended the margin to 45-to-26 at halftime with a 23-to-16 second quarter advantage.

CSB, which had 22 or more points in each of the first three quarters, hit 9-of-16 field goals for 56.3 percent in the second quarter. In addition, they were 4-of-11 from three-point range for 36.4 percent.

In both the third and fourth quarters, Saint Benedict connected on 62.5 percent of their shots to ice the game. In the third quarter, when Meyer hit 7-of-8 field goals to lead the way, CSB outscored the visitors, 24-18, to extend the advantage to 69-to-44. In the final quarter, CSB was 5-of-8 from the field, including 3-of-5 from three-point range, for a 19-to-18 points advantage. With 2:09 to play, CSB extended the lead to 30 points which was its largest lead of the game.