The Gustavus women’s basketball team ran into a hot-shooting Hamline squad and the result was a 69-65 loss to the Pipers on their home floor in St. Paul on Saturday afternoon. The Gusties, who were down by as many as 10 points in the second half, rallied to take a one-point lead at 63-62 on a 3-point basket by Kelsey Florian with 2:43 left to play, but Gustavus went 0-6 in the final two minutes of the game and the Pipers slipped past the Gusties 69-65. Molly Geske led Gustavus in scoring with 16 points.
Hamline jumped out to an early 16-6 and never trailed in the first half. The Gusties battled back to within four points at 33-29, but the Pipers went into the locker room at halftime leading by six at 35-29. Hamline shot 83.3 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes of play making 15-of-18 shots from the field.
Gustavus cut the lead to two at 35-33, but the Pipers quickly pushed the lead back to 10 points at 47-37 with 14 minutes left in the game. The Gusties countered with a 15-5 run over the next six minutes to tie the score at 52-52 at the 8:00 minute mark. Florian’s three-point basket gave Gustavus its last least lead of the game at 63-62 at the 2:43 mark. Hamline scored the next four points on baskets by Kara Poirer and Tromesa May and led 66-63 with 50 seconds left on the clock. Molly Geske made two free throws to cut Hamline’s lead to 66-65 with 24 seconds remaining. The Pipers made 3-of-4 free throws in the final 18 seconds, while the Gusties missed two three-point field goal attempts and Hamline claimed the four-point victory.
Hamline made 70.3 percent of its shots from the field (26-of-37), while Gustavus shot a cool 36.9 percent (24-of-65).
Geske led Gustavus with 16 points. Others in double figures for the Gusties were Bri Radtke with 12 and Molly Mathiowetz with 11.