ST. JOSEPH, Minn. --- The version of Lauren Arnold that College of Saint Benedict head basketball coach Mike Durbin sees on the court isn't the same as the one he sees off it.
 
But – in both cases – he couldn't be more pleased.
 
"She's such a likable individual and her teammates gravitate toward her," said Durbin of his sophomore point guard, who started 26 of 27 games for the Bennies as a first-year last season."She's friends with everyone else on the team and she just has a very sweet disposition.But that does not carry over onto the floor at all," he continued. "Her game is all about being aggressive and going to the basket. She's confident enough in herself to take risks and she's already hit some big shots for us."
 
"So she's a real difference-maker – both in terms of personality and ability," Durbin said.
 
Arnold, a two-time all-conference pick and one-time all-state honorable mention selection at Chanhassen High School, didn't know what to expect when she first arrived at CSB a year ago.
 
"I was hoping I'd see some minutes, but I didn't know how many or even what my role might be," she said. "This was a new team. I was excited to be part of it, but I knew I needed to earn my place."
 
She certainly did that, ranking third on the team in scoring last season with an average of nine points per game, while finishing second on the team in both assists (51) and steals (30).
 
She finished in double figures in scoring 15 times, including a 12-point performance in a 68-64 win at Concordia in the quarterfinals of the MIAC tournament.
 
"I was super-nervous, even before the first scrimmage we had," she said. "But the second we tipped off, all that went away. I trusted in the hard work I'd put in to get me to that moment and things worked out."
 
Indeed they did, even as Arnold was battling through shoulder issues after undergoing surgery to repair a torn labrum during her senior year in high school – issues that have continued into this season, causing her to sit out a pair of games.
 
"She might be one of the tougher players we've ever had come through this program," Durbin said. "She has such a high threshold for pain. She was still dealing with shoulder pain last season, but you'd never have known it with the way she was diving on the floor after loose balls and throwing her whole body into things. She refuses to let anything slow her down."
 
That also applies off the court where she was a three-time academic all-conference pick at Chanhassen and an academic all-state pick as a senior.
 
She said the opportunity to build a strong and genuine balance, benefiting both athletics and academics played a big role in her decision to choose CSB.
 
"Saint Ben's seemed like the perfect combination," she said. "I wanted to play basketball, but it was really important to me to get a good education too. I felt like I could do both of those things here. I also wanted to stay somewhat close to home so my family could be at most of my games."
 
That family includes father Matt and mother Jessica, both of whom were athletes at St. Thomas. Matt, who now works as a financial advisor, played basketball while Jessica, now a physical education teacher at Chanhassen, played softball.
 
Younger sister Kate is now a junior at Chanhassen and a standout basketball player as well.
 
"We played one-on-one a lot in the driveway growing up and that didn't always end well," Arnold said with a laugh. "We're both pretty competitive and we'd argue about fouls and stuff like that. But it was still super fun. My dad would come out and play with us too."
 
"He's probably the main reason I love basketball so much," she continued. "He was my coach for a long time – on travel teams and also as a varsity assistant. It's still so helpful to talk to him or my sister about my game, or about any kind of basketball in general."
 
Arnold came to CSB undecided on a major but picked accounting after a long talk with popular accounting professor Warren 'Boz' Bostrom, who sadly passed away this fall at just age 52 after battling illness.
 
"He drove all the way up to Concordia to watch us play in the playoffs last year and we had a conversation," Arnold recalled. "He asked me about school and my major. When I told him I was still undecided, he convinced me to meet with him. I always liked working with numbers and accounting seemed like a good fit. But Boz was the reason I ended up picking that major. He was super-passionate and cared so much about his students."
 
Arnold is taking the intro accounting course Bostrom began this semester teaching. He remained in the classroom right up to the week of his death in October.
 
"That was hard because we knew what he was going through and he didn't have as much energy as he usually had," she said. "But watching the way he handled it was very inspiring. He cared so much about his students that he was there for us right until the very end. I think that says a lot about who he was as a professor and a person."
 
Like many athletic teams at CSB and SJU, the Bennie basketball team is wearing patches on their shooting shirts this season in Bostrom's honor.
 
"I still think about him a lot," she said. "Playing for him is definitely providing all of us with extra motivation."
 
That motivation is showing on the court. CSB boasts a record of 5-1 heading into play at the Colorado College Classic this coming weekend. The Bennies take on the host Tigers at 2 p.m. Friday (Nov. 28) and Whitman (Washington) College at 2 p.m. Saturday.
 
"We're playing well, but our goal is to keep improving every time we step on the court," said Arnold, who has averaged 9.8 points per contest in the four games (double digits points three times) she's been able to play, including scoring 15 points and making 11-of-12 free throws in a MIAC win by CSB against St. Olaf on Wednesday (Nov. 20). "I'm not super happy with my own performance so far. There's a lot of things I can get better at. "So continuing to work on those things is what I'm focused on right now."