ST. JOSEPH, Minn. –  The College of Saint Benedict basketball team (15-7, 10-5 MIAC), which has won six of seven games, will travel to No. 8 Gustavus Adolphus (10-11, 5-9 MIAC) at 1:00 p.m., on Saturday, Feb. 15 at Gus Young Court in St. Peter, Minn.

CSB is 6-1 over the past seven games after a 69-58 decision over Macalester at home on Feb. 12. Prior to an 83-73 setback to Concordia on Feb. 8, CSB had won five straight games including an 84-53 road win over St. Scholastica on Feb. 5. CSB guard Megan Morgan had 22 points in both the Concordia and St. Scholastica contests to lead CSB, which is 7-5 since the holiday break. Prior to defeating the Saints, CSB had a 65-60 win over Carleton College on Feb. 1, as Jonas made six threes and scored a season-high 20 points.  St. Ben's also had a 63-52 road win over St. Olaf, a 63-44 home win at Augsburg and a 73-64 home win over Saint Mary.

With three games to play in the regular season, St. Benedict sits 15-7 overall and 10-5 in the MIAC for fourth place in the conference. CSB, which is battling for one of the six MIAC playoff spots in the postseason playoffs, also has home MIAC wins over St. Olaf, 60-42, on Dec. 4; and Carleton College, 72-52, on Dec. 7 and a road win at Saint Mary's, 68-62, on Dec. 10. Gustavus, ranked No. 8 in NCAA DIII, has won seven straight games and sits 21-1 overall and 14-1 and tied with Bethel (18-4, 14-1) at the top of the MIAC.

Notes on Gustavus
Directed by head coach Laurie Kelley, who is in her 13^th season with Gustavus. Kelly has led the Gusties to 10 top five MIAC finishes including back-to-back MIAC regular season titles in each of the past two years. Gustavus has won seven straight games after a 66-36 road win over St. Olaf on Feb. 12 and a 73-61 decision over No. 25 Bethel in Arden Hills on Feb. 8. The Gusties are outscoring opponents, 66.2-to-46.9 points per game for a 19.3 scoring margin. They hit 42.6 percent from the floor on 24.8 shots per game. At three-point range, they hit 32.0 percent and are at 77.1 percent from the free throw line. The Gusties have a 34.0-to-28.8 rebound advantage and commit 13.5 turnovers per game to 20.7 for opponents. Emma Kneifel is averaging 13.7 points and 4.5 rebounds per game to lead Gustavus. Syd Hauger is adding 9.5 points and 3.2 rebounds with Kyle Baranick at 9.4 points and Rachel Kawiecki at 8.9 points per game.

Series Notes
In the all-time series between Gustavus and Saint Benedict, the Bennies own a 50-36 series edge. In the last meeting, the Gusties took a 68-45 win over CSB on Feb. 22, 2024. At home, CSB is 27-16 against the Gusties and have a 23-20 road mark with a 47-29 MIAC record. In the first-ever matchup on Dec. 14, 1981. St. Ben's registered an 87-69 win. Gustavus has won 9-of-10 games in the series.
 
St. Benedict – By the Numbers
Through 21 games, St. Benedict has a 65.3-to-60.0 points per game advantage over their opponents. The Bennies are making 40.9 percent from the field with an average of 23.5 shots per game. From three-point range, St. Ben's converts 31.7 percent of its shots with an average of 7.5 triples per outing. Four times, the Bennies have double-digit threes in a game, including a high of 14 against Minnesota Morris on Nov. 9, 2024. St. Ben's hit nine or more threes in a game four straight contests. At the foul line, CSB has made 69.8 percent. On the glass, opponents have a 33.1-to-36.8 rebound edge. CSB has forced 15.3 turnovers which has resulted in 12.0 points per game in points off turnovers. St. Benedict averages 7.3 steals per game and dishes 10.8 assists per game.

Player Notes
St. Ben's is led individually by senior guard Sophia Jonas with 13.0 points per game while junior guard Megan Morgan is supplying 12.3 points per game.
Jonas hit five threes in the win over Macalester to become the MIAC's all-time career leader in made three-pointers with 256. She surpassed the mark of 255 by Brooklyn Paulson of Saint Mary's during 2018-2023. Jonas also holds the MIAC season mark of 84 made threes in 2022-23. She has 63 made threes in 2024-25, a mark that leads the league and ranks in the top 25 in DIII.

She also averaging 4.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. Jonas, who has 62 double-digit scoring games (six straight games) and 1,112 career points (11.2 points per game/career), has put together eight 20-point games in her career with the 23 points against Macalester on Feb. 12 her high total this year At the nine-minute mark of a 63-44 win over Augsburg on Jan. 22, Jonas became the 22^nd player in school history to reach 1,000 points and now ranks 14^th on the CSB all-time list. Against St. Catherine this year, Jonas had her career-first double double with 16 points and a career-best 11 rebounds. She has a career-high 26 points vs UW-River Falls on Nov. 16, 2023. Against Saint Mary's on Dec. 10, 2024, Jonas recorded a career-best five steals. She has made six triples in a game four times in her career, including twice in 2023-24 (UW-River Falls, Minnesota Morris). Six times, she has had five assists in a game, including three times in the 2024-25 season. Jonas has made at least one three in 20 straight games this year and has three or more triples 12 times this year and 51 times in her career. Thirteen times, the Hudson, Wis., standout has made five or more threes in a game during her standout career.
  
She has started 87 games (98 played) and has made 383-of-1,053 field goals for 36.4 percent, including the 256 threes on 727 attempts for 35.2 percent. She is 90-of-118 from the foul line for 76.3 percent with 1,112 points, 263 rebounds, 171 assists and 96 steals.  

Morgan, an exercise, and health sciences major has scored in double-digits 13 times this season in 22 games and 26 times in her career.  She is also averaging 5.0 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game.

This year Morgan has made 88-of-203 field goals for 43.3 percent, which includes 36-of-99 from three-point range for 36.4 percent. She has made 59-of-69 free throws for 85.5 percent, a mark that ranks second in the MIAC and 12^th in NCAA DIII. In her career, Morgan, who has started 51 and played in 72 games, has hit 210-of-481 field goals for 43.7 percent, which includes 75-of-210 for 35.7 percent from three-point range. She is 136-of-163 for 83.4 percent at the foul line.

Morgan has career marks of 631 points, 293 career rebounds, 135 assists, 20 blocks and 48 steals. Morgan, who has five career 20-point games, has scored 22 points three times this year including against Bethel on Jan. 8, St. Scholastica on Feb. 5 and Concordia-Moorhead on Feb. 8.  She also has career-high 26 points against St. Catherine on Feb. 17, 2024. Her career-high in rebounds is 10 twice, including against Hamline on Dec. 10, 2022, and on Feb. 17, 2024, against St. Catherine when she had her only double double of her career. With seven assists against Carleton on Dec. 7, 2024, Morgan had her career best.

Senior Olivia Boily is averaging 8.4 points and 4.0 rebounds this season and has nine double-digit games this year and 14 in her career She is shooting 83-of-181 from the field for 45.9 percent. Her career-best in points is 15 points vs St. Olaf on Jan. 29, 2024, and Macalester on Feb. 12, 2025. Her career-best in rebounds is 11 against Carleton on Jan. 26, 2023. Boily has 490 points, 52 steals, 308 rebounds, 58 assists and 28 blocks.

First-year guard Tatum Findley is averaging 7.4 points and 2.5 rebounds while shooting 46.2 percent from the floor by hitting 49-of-106 shots. She is 8-of-27 from three-point range and 42-of-56 for 75.0 percent at the foul line. Findley, who has eight double digit scoring games, has a career-high of 15 points against UW-River Falls and Saint Mary's this year.
 
First-year guard Lauren Arnold was named St. Cloud Orthopedics/CSB Athlete of the Week after hitting the game-winning shot with 2:30 left in the game in a 47-44 win over Hamline on Jan. 4. Arnold set her career-high in points with 15 against St. Catherine on Jan. 11. Arnold, who has nine games of double digit points this year, including in six straight games, is averaging 8.4 points and 2.6 rebounds while making 48.9 percent from the field on 68-of-139 shooting. Additionally, Arnold has hit 13-of-39 three-pointers for 33.3 percent and 36-of-42 foul shots for 85.7 percent while dishing 46 assists with 27 steals.  She had a career-high six rebounds against John Carroll on Dec. 17 and a career-best six assists against Concordia-Moorhead.

First year forward Sofia Baldessari is averaging 8.5 points and 6.4 rebounds. She has seven made triples and is 17-of-29 for 58.6 percent from the foul line. Baldessari scored a career-high 14 points in the win over Carleton when she was 7-of-9 from the field, also a career-best. She also has a high of nine rebounds against Simpson on Nov. 30. Baldessari has four games of double-digit points, which have occurred over the past six games.

In her first game this season, Kira Young scored 10 points and hit 3 of-5 field goals, including 2-of-3 from three-point range in a road win over UW-Eau Claire. For the season Young is averaging 6.1 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. Young has 388 career points and 256 rebounds. She has a career-best single game point total of 20 points against St. Catherine on Jan. 13, 2024, and set a career-high with 14 rebounds, the most since the 2021-22 season (Carla Meyer, 14). Young has 17 career double-digit scoring games, including three of the past five games, with one career double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds) which came against St. Olaf on Jan. 29. She has three double-digit rebound games.

Megan Driste, a junior guard, is averaging 3.4 points and 2.1 rebounds. She had a career-high of 12 points against Concordia on Wednesday, Jan. 15. She had a career-best three triples against St. Olaf on Dec. 4 and matched the three triples against Concordia and Carleton on Feb. 1.

CSB led by Head Coach Mike Durbin
In his 39th season, Durbin has coached 74 All-MIAC First Team selections, 55 honorable mention athletes, 15 players named to the All-MIAC Defensive Team and 15 all-first year team picks. Durbin has a 764-291 (.732) overall coaching record and a 760-269 mark with Saint Benedict. He ranks 15th among all active coaches regardless of NCAA division and has the most wins by an active DIII coach. He ranks 36th all-time for most wins in a career, regardless of division. He is third all-time in wins in NCAA DIII.  In addition to his outstanding overall coaching record at CSB Durbin holds a 593-194 mark in conference play. The 593 wins is the most by an active coach in the MIAC. Durbin became the 17th active coach at all levels of the NCAA to reach the 700-win milestone on Feb. 24, 2021, when he earned his 700th win at the College of Saint Benedict with an 88-83 decision over St. Thomas at home at Claire Lynch Hall.