St. Paul – The Gustavus Adolphus women’s basketball team could not keep pace with the University of St. Thomas in its MIAC-opener on Wednesday night at Schoenecker Arena. With an 11-point advantage at halftime, St. Thomas outscored the Gusties 37-16 in the second half on the way to a 76-43 win. Gustavus drops to 4-2 overall and 0-1 in the MIAC, while St. Thomas improves to 5-0 overall and 1-0 in the MIAC.
“We would have liked to compete better in this game, but it’s a great learning experience for us,” said Head Coach Laurie Kelly. “It’s one of 18 conference games and that’s the thing about the MIAC, you can’t dwell on a loss like this too long because the next game is right around the corner.”
St. Thomas jumped out to an early lead and went up by as many as 12 points (19-7) with 12:41 remaining in the opening half. Although Gustavus chipped away at the lead and eventually brought the score within five points (32-27) by the 2:52 mark, the Tommies used a 7-0 scoring-run over the remaining minutes to grab a 39-27 advantage at halftime.
“We didn’t come out of the gates as well as we wanted, but once we settled down and got our feet under us we were able to play with some poise,” Kelly said about her team’s start. “Up until the last two minutes, the team competed well and played with confidence. However, we miss a layup, make a couple mistakes, and all of a sudden we go into the locker room down 12 points.”
Gustavus struggled to find any offense and scored just one point in the opening five minutes of the second half. St. Thomas had built a 49-28 lead by that time and continued to pour on pressure. The Gusties couldn’t recover and trailed by 35 points (74-39) with 2:52 left to play.
The Tommies shot over 50-percent from the field in both halves to finish 52.9-percent (27-51) in the game. They also shot 36.8-percent (7-19) from three-point range and 78.9-percent (15-19) at the line.
Gustavus made just four field goals in the second half and finished the game 35-percent (14-40) from the floor. Mikayla Miller (Fy., Goodhue, Minn.) led the team in scoring with 14 points after going 4-for-14 from the field.
Maggie Weiers led all scorers with a 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting. Jenna Dockter and Katie Stone also finished in double-figures with 17 and 12 points, respectively.
“St. Thomas has a a lot of seniors and those veterans dictated the tempo on both sides of the ball,” Kelly stated. “We made a lot of mistakes tonight. Against good teams, those mistakes often prove costly and St. Thomas was able to take advantage.”
Gustavus lost the battle on the glass for the first time this season, being outrebounded 31-24. Turnovers also cost the Gusties, as St. Thomas scored 32 points off Gustavus’s 24 giveaways.
We have St. Kate’s coming up at home on Saturday and hopefully we can take the good things that we did today into that game,” Kelly concluded. “This is a young team that still has growing up to do in many areas, but an early-season test such as this is only going to make us better. We haven’t lost at home yet this season and our goal is to keep that going.”
The Gusties will be back on the hardwood when they take on St. Catherine on Saturday, Dec. 6 at 1:00 p.m. on Gus Young Court.