The Gustavus women’s basketball team stepped out of league play Wednesday night, defeating Macalester College 51-23 at Gus Young Court in St. Peter. Bri Monahan and Jess Vadnais led the Gusties with 12 and 10 points, respectively, in limited action.
Gustavus scored the game’s first seven points before Callie PaStarr scored on a jumper with 18:07 to play to put the Scots on the board. The Gusties extended the lead to 16-2 over the next seven minutes before PaStarr drained her second field goal of the game to make the score 16-4 with 11:03 remaining in the first half. Elise Pagel scored the final three points of the half for the Scots, on a layup with 5:42 to play and a free throw just over a minute later.
Neither team would score over the final 3:24 of the first half as Gustavus took a 29-7 lead at halftime. The Gusties held the Scots to 3-of-16 shooting and forced 18 turnovers during the first half.
With Gustavus head coach Mickey Haller substituting liberally, the Gusties outscored Macalester 22-16 in the second half en route to a 51-23 victory. The Macalester effort included a three-pointer by Pagel, just the sixth of the season for the Scots.
Every Gustavus player on the bench saw at least six minutes of playing time and all but three found their way into the scoring column. Monahan led all players with 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting in 14 minutes of play. The 6-foot post player also added five steals, four rebounds and a blocked shot. Vadnais added ten points and four assists. Vicky Peterson finished with a team-high seven rebounds, four assists, two points and a pair of steals for the Gusties, who shot only 39.6 percent (21-53) from the field during the game.
Pagel led the Scots with ten points on 3-of-19 shooting from the field. She was also 3-of-4 from the free throw line and sank a three-pointer. Jenny Lee finished with a team-high four steals, while Diedre Jackson and Adrienne Keller finished with eight and six rebounds, respectively. Macalester finished the game shooting 20 percent (8-40) from the field, but made six of eight free throw attempts.
Gustavus improves to 18-5 on the season, while Macalester drops to 2-20. The Gusties will face league-leader College of Saint Benedict Saturday afternoon in St. Peter with a .