Women’s Basketball Falls to St. Thomas Posted on March 3rd, 2021 by

SAINT PAUL, Minn. – The Gustavus women’s basketball team traveled to St. Paul to face the Tommies for the final time in history at Schoenecker arena. 

BOX SCORE 

The Gusties got on the board 30 seconds into the game with a jump shot from Betsy Schoenrock (Jr., New Richland) but were in for the toughest matchup of their season with the Tommies tying it up two minutes later. St. Thomas had the hot hand to tack on nine points in a row and have an advantage on rebounds but Gustavus stayed consistent making four out of six of their free throws and 12 points in the paint. Despite holding a lead for 7 minutes, the Gusties would trail 22-16 before ending the first quarter.

Gustavus put the pressure on in the second quarter with four fastbreak points and seven points off turnovers to outscore the Tommies but still faced a five point deficit at halftime.

Tied up a minute into the second half, Caitlin Rorman (So., Blue Earth) put the Gusties back on top after making both free throws. The third quarter would be a back and forth battle and the Gusties 7 rebounds would keep the score to a close 54-60 before going into the final frame. 

Emma Kniefel (Fy., Medford) put up two crucial points halfway through the fourth quarter for the Gusties to tie it up, but the Tommies 10 defensive rebounds would shut Gustavus down to a 77-64 final. Rorman would have an impressive 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists on the night. 

“I give a lot of credit to St. Thomas,” said Head Coach Laurie Kelly. “They played a really good game, they shot the ball well at home. I thought that was the difference in the games. Down the stretch when we needed to get a stop, we weren’t able to do that and they were able to hit some clutch shots. We struggled to score from the perimeter and shoot the ball as well as we typically do. We missed Paige Richert (Sr., Comfrey) as our leading rebounder due to injury so we weren’t able to pick up the ones we usually look to her for. It was a quality match up. Rorman had a great night of scoring and showed up one on one and on the perimeter. Some nights as a team you have nights where you don’t shoot the ball well enough and that was tonight.” 

 

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