The Gustavus women’s basketball team defeated Macalester 46-30 on Wednesday evening on Gus Young Court. The Gusties led 12-11 after the first half and outscored the Scots 34-19 in the second half to claim the 16-point victory. Gustie Bri Monahan (Sr., Hutchinson, Minn.) led all scorers with 13 points.
Jess Vadnais (Jr., Hudson, Wisc.) started out the scoring in the first half by hitting a three-pointer a minute into the game. Monahan then scored about a minute later from down low in the paint to give Gustavus a 5-0 lead. However, Danielle Johnson made a three-point basket to cut the Gustie lead to two at 5-3. The teams were tied at 7-7 with less than 11:00 left in the half when Elise Pagel made a free throw to give the Scots their first lead of the night. That lead lasted until the 8-minute mark when Monahan scored two points to give the Gusties a 9-8 advantage. Macalester immediately reclaimed the lead when Ann Baltzer recorded a lay-up at the 7:59 mark. With 4:11 on the clock, Kenzie Consoer (Jr., Mankato, Minn.) spun towards the basket and sunk a lay-up for the final lead change of the night, which put Gustavus ahead 11-10. Each team record a free throw before the half ended with the Gusties holding on to a slim 12-11 lead.
Gustavus started the second half by scoring 9-of-11 points, which was capped off by a lay-up by Monahan and a made free throw following the play to give the Gusties a 21-13 lead. After Baltzer recorded a lay-up to cut the lead to six points, Erin Boese (Sr., Rochester, Minn.) hit a three-pointer to put Gustavus up by nine at 24-15. Vadnais capped off a 9-3 run with two free throws giving Gustavus a 33-18 lead. Katie Layman’s (Fy., Hudson, Wisc.) lay-up at the 3:32 mark gave Gustavus a 46-25 lead. The Scots closed out the game on a 5-0 run making the final score 46-30.
Top scorers for the Gusties included Monahan with 13, Vadnais with ten and Julia Schultz (Fy., Marshall, Minn.) with nine. Baltzer led Macalester with 12 points.
Gustavus (4-0 overall, 1-0 conference) will host Augsburg on Saturday afternoon on Gus Young Court.