ST. JOSEPH, Minn. -- College of Saint Benedict senior guard Sophia Jonas was honored in a short ceremony prior to tip-off Saturday afternoon for scoring her 1,000th collegiate point earlier this week.

The Hudson (Wisconsin) High School graduate then wasted no time adding to that total, finishing with 18 points as the Bennies picked up an important 73-64 MIAC victory over St. Mary's at Claire Lynch Hall.
 
"I was just ready to go," said Jonas, who hit two 3-pointers Saturday, giving her a career total of 235 and putting her just 20 behind the MIAC career record of 255 set by Brooklyn Paulson of Saint Mary's from 2018-23.
 
"I had a lot of energy in the beginning, and it was a lot of fun," said Jonas, who now has made a three in 15 straight games.
 
Indeed, Jonas had nine points in the first quarter alone as the Bennies (6-4 MIAC, 11-6 overall) built a 23-8 lead. CSB finished the quarter 10-for-13 (76.9 percent) from the field while the Cardinals (6-4, 8-8) were just 2-for-13 (15.4 percent). By hitting 76.9 percent from the floor, the Bennies had their season-best mark for a quarter. 
 
"When Sophia gets going like that, it does a lot for our team and I think it does a lot for her," said St. Ben's head coach Mike Durbin, whose team pulled into a four-way tie for fourth place in the MIAC standings with St. Mary's, Concordia and St. Scholastica.
 
The top six teams at the end of the regular season make the conference playoffs and CSB now holds the tiebreaker over St. Mary's, having swept both regular-season meetings with the Cardinals.
 
"We were expecting them to come out and shadow her and we wanted to get her involved early," Durbin continued. "In part, so she could get on a roll and feel like she was contributing. Then it just snowballed and she was able to do everything."
 
Jonas was one of four Bennie players in double figures Saturday. Seniors Megan Morgan and Olivia Boily each finished with 13 and first-year Lauren Arnold added 10.
 
Junior Kira Young scored nine points while sophomore Emily Crandall chipped in with a career-best eight, including two 3-pointers.
 
"She is a spark," Durbin said of Crandall. "She plays really physical. She's not afraid to get in somebody's face. She rebounds well. Emily hit some critical shots for us today."
 
The Cardinals did manage to get back in the game in the fourth quarter, cutting the CSB lead to as little as seven when a lay-up by first-year Brianna Nusbaum made the score 69-62 with 1:04 to play.
 
But Morgan – who also finished with five rebounds – went 4-for-4 from the free throw line the rest of the way.  As a team, CSB finished 28-for-50 (56 percent) from the field and was a perfect 11-for-11 at the line.
 
"We were on the bubble after our losing streak, but we're officially back in the playoff hunt now," said Morgan, who was 8-for-8 on free throw attempts Saturday. "So this was a really important game for us."
 
Jonas echoed those sentiments.
 
"We really needed this one," said Jonas, who scored in double figures for the 57^th time in her collegiate career. "We came into the team room afterward and the first thing we said was 'Win streak of two!' This was a really big step toward getting back to where we were before we hit that losing streak."