The Gustavus women’s basketball team came up just short in its bid to claim the program’s first ever outright league title falling to St. Ben’s 67-65 in St. Joseph on Saturday afternoon. As a result, St. Ben’s ties the Gusties for the league title with identical 18-4 conference marks. The Blazer’s hit two free throws with 06 seconds left to claim the thrilling victory. Molly Geske led all scorers with 23 points.
St. Ben’s led for most of the first half claiming its biggest lead of the game at eight points (28-20) at the 7:53 mark of the first half. Gustavus trailed 38-35 after the first 20 minutes of play.
Gustavus led for the majority of the second half and held its biggest lead of the game at eight (56-48) with 8:40 to play. The Blazers battled back to tie the score at 65-65 with 34 seconds remaining and then Heather Gillund made two free throws with 06 seconds remaining to give the Blazers the thrilling victory.
Three players scored in double figures for Gustavus including Geske with 23, Molly Mathiowetz with 13, and Bri Radtke with 12.
Gustavus, the #2 seed in the MIAC Playoff Tournament, receives a first round bye and will face the highest remaining seed on Thursday, Feb. 25 at 7:30 pm at Gus Young Court.