St. Peter, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus women’s basketball team secured a spot in the MIAC Playoffs as the sixth and final seed with an 82-52 victory over St. Catherine University in the regular season finale on Saturday afternoon at the Butler Center. Gustavus led by seven points (32-25) at halftime and then outscored the Wildcats 50-27 in the second half.
Gustavus caps the regular season with a record of 14-11 overall and 11-11 in the MIAC. St. Kate’s sees its season come to an end with a record of 4-21 overall and 3-19 in the MIAC.
The 2013-14 MIAC Women’s Basketball Playoffs will begin on Tuesday, Feb. 25. The Gusties will travel to St. Paul to face No. 3 seed St. Thomas, while No. 5 seed St. Olaf will head to Arden Hills to face No. 4 seed Bethel.
Today against St. Catherine, Gustavus was led in scoring by Lindsey Johnson (So., Edina, Minn.) who scored a season-high 22 points. Johnson went 7-for-10 from the field, knocked down both her three-point attempts, and went a perfect 6-for-6 at the line.
Behind Johnson in Gustavus’s leading scorers category was Julia Dysthe (Sr., White Bear Lake, Minn.) and Karina Schroeder (So, Lake Crystal, Minn.). After taking two games off because of a lower body injury, Dysthe rebounded with a 17-point performance. She went 7-for-8 from the field, 3-for-4 from three-point range, and led the team in assists with five. Schroeder posted a double-double with 15 points (6-11 FG) and a game-high 11 rebounds (9 defensive).
The Gusties led by as many as 10 points (21-11) in the opening half when Schroeder made a layup at the 6:44 mark. St. Kate’s battled back to cut lead to four (29-25) with six seconds left in the half, but Dysthe knocked down a three-pointer to put Gustavus on top 32-25 at the break.
Gustavus carried the momentum of Dysthe’s three-pointer into the second half and by the 13:01 mark of the frame had built a 49-30 lead following a three by Lindsey Johnson.
St. Catherine would come as close at 17 points down 60-43 with 7:47 remaining. From there, Gustavus used an 11-2 scoring-run to go up 71-45 with 4:41 left to play.
The Black and Gold’s 50-point second half was fueled by a 51.9-percent field goal shooting performance in the final 20 minutes. Gustavus finished the game 49.1-percent (28-57) from the field, 40-percent (6-15) from behind the arc, and 80-percent (20-25) at the line. Gustavus more than doubled St. Catherine’s rebounding total with a 43-22 advantage on the glass.
St. Catherine’s LaShay Holt was the contest’s leading scorer with 25 points after going 11-for-19 from the field. Kristen Lee finished behind Holt with 11 points on 4-of-12 shooting from the floor, which included a 3-of-10 afternoon from three-point range.
The Wildcats shot 39.6-percent (21-53) from the field, 18.2-percent (4-22) from three, and 60-percent (6-10) at the line.
Head Coach Laurie Kelly’s squad will look for redemption against St. Thomas in the MIAC Playoff Quarterfinals on Tuesday night at Schoenecker Arena. The Tommies swept the regular season series with a 79-52 win on Jan. 15 in St. Peter and a 90-56 win on Feb. 19 in St. Paul.