The Gustavus women’s basketball team used a 17-0 run at the start of the second half to pull away from Carleton and post a 24-point win over the Knights, 77-53 in St. Peter. The Gusties, who improved to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in the MIAC, were led by Katie Layman with 19 points and 9 rebounds. Coach Mickey Haller’s squad will remain home and host Concordia-Moorhead on Saturday at 1:00 pm.
Carleton’s sophomore guard Ally Weaver made three consecutive three-point baskets to start the game, giving the Knights and early 9-4 lead. The Gusties used a 5-0 run to tie the score at 9-9 and then the two squads battled back and forth the rest of the half. The score was tied five times during the first 20 minutes and the two league rivals went into the locker room with the score tied at 31-31.
Gustavus came out of the locker room fired up and outscored Carleton 17-0 over the first five minutes of the second half to take a 48-31 lead. The Knights cut the lead to 15 points at 50-35 on a basket by Annie Isler with 12:54 remaining, but that is as close as Carleton would get the rest of the night. After Isler’s basket, Gustavus used an 8-0 run to extend its lead to 23 points at 58-35 and the Gusties cruised to the 24-point, 77-53 victory. Gustavus outscored the Knights 46-22 in the second half. Katie Layman did much of the damage for the Gusties as she scored 14 second half points including 3-of-4 shooting from field and 8-of-8 shooting from the free throw line.
Both teams put on a free throw shooting clinic in the game as Gustavus finished 19-of-22 for the game, while Carleton made 19-of-21 from the charity stripe.
Layman was one of four Gustavus players in double figures. The three others included Emily Nelson with 13, and Bri Radtke and Molly Geske with 10 each.
Carleton was led by Ally Weaver with 16 and Megan Erlandson with 11.
The 24-point win for the Gusties was the largest margin of victory by either team in the series in nine years. Gustavus claimed a 27-point, 72-45 win over the Knights in Northfield in January of 2000.
Senior guard Emily Nelson reached a couple of career milestones in the game as she scored her 500th career point and recorded her 100th career steal. She scored 13 points to push her career total to 505 and registered one steal to push her career total to exactly 100.
Gustavus is now 3-0 overall and 1-0 in the MIAC, while Carleton slips to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in the MIAC. Gustavus will host Concordia on Saturday at 1:00 pm, while Carleton travels to St. Joseph to face Saint Benedict at 3:00 pm.