Menomonie, Wis. – In what was a back-and-forth battle throughout the afternoon, the Gustavus Adolphus women’s basketball team’s late rally fell two points short in a 78-76 loss to the University of Dubuque in its opening game of the UW-Stout Thanksgiving Shootout being held at the Johnson Fieldhouse. Dubuque improves to 3-1 with the win, while Gustavus suffers its first loss of the season and is now 3-1.
Although the Spartans led by five points (76-71) with :33 seconds remaining in the game, the Gusties went on a 5-0 scoring-run capped off by a Siri Sviggum (Fy., Dennison, Minn.) three-pointer with :10 seconds to go to cut the lead to 77-76. Dubuque’s Jenna Kotas made 1-of-2 free throws following Sviggum’s three to put her squad up 78-76, and Gustavus was not able to convert on the game’s final possession.
The Gusties outshot the Spartans from the field 52.8 (28-53) to 45.5-percent (25-55) in the game. Gustavus was 6-for-14 (42.9%) from three-point range and 14-for-23 (60.9%) from the free throw line. The Black and Gold dominated on the glass by a 36-to-26 margin, but loss the turnover battle 22-to-14.
Three Gustavus players finished in double-figures led by Mikayla Miller (Fy., Goodhue, Minn.) who scored 21 points after going 6-for-13 from the floor, 3-for-7 from three, and 6-for-8 from the free throw line. After scoring 16 points in the opening half, Miller was limited to only five free throws in the second. Picking up for Miller in the second half was Miranda Rice (Fy., Forest Lake, Minn.) who scored 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting over the final 20 minutes. Rice ended up with 12 points (4-7 FG, 4-8 FT), as did Maddie Ehrich (Sr., Eden Prairie, Minn.) who went 4-for-10 from the floor and 4-for-4 at the charity stripe. Rice and Miller were also Gustavus’s leading rebounders with seven and six boards, respectively.
After a back-and-forth opening 15 minutes, Dubuque took control with less than five minutes remaining in the opening half to go up nine points (36-27) with just under two minutes on the clock. The Gusties responded with a run of their own, scoring seven straight points to cut the lead to 36-34 at the break.
Despite giving up the lead four minutes into the second half, Dubuque outscored the Gusties 16-to-7 over a four-minute time-span to go up 59-51 with 11:51 left to play. Gustavus cut the gap to one point on several occasions before tying the game at 63-63 with 5:36 on the clock. A jumper by Ehrich put Gustavus on top 71-70 with 1:21 left, but the Spartans responded with a 6-0 run that put them up for good.
Dubuque’s scoring effort was paced by Jenna Kotas and Meggie Schmidt who both dropped 22 points.
Gustavus will conclude the UW-Stout Thanksgiving Shootout on Sunday, Nov. 30 with an 11:00 a.m. game against the College of St. Scholastica.