ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus College women’s basketball team rode out a 17-point, 46-29 halftime lead, to earn a 79-65 victory over Bethel University Wednesday evening at Robertson Center Gym. This improves the Gusties’ record to 13-5 overall and 8-3 in the MIAC.
“Bethel is a quality team, they were picked to win the league by the coaches and the media going into the season. They have some of the best front court players in the league, which made this a great road win for us,” said Head Coach Laurie Kelly. “The key for us was our defensive intensity, we played a lot of kids in the first quarter, so we had a lot of fresh legs on the floor to do some great defensive rebounding.”
Gustavus was led offensively by sophomore Mikayla Miller (Goodhue, Minn.) and first- year Justine Lee (Dawson, Minn.). Miller notched a double-double, tallying a game-high 17 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, and shot 4-4 from the charity stripe. Lee also played an important role scoring a career-high 15 points, along with three assists, and five rebounds. Her previous game high was 12, from Dec. 28, 2015 against Ramapo College.
The Gusties allowed only 13 turnovers, which is significantly lower than their current average of 18.7 per game.
“We’ve really struggled turning the ball over in the last few games, so limiting turnovers was key for us.”
Gustavus earned 19 of its points off of Bethel turnovers and received 39 points from the bench and hauled in 52 rebounds.
Both teams battled it out in the first quarter, tying the game three times in the first 6:24. However, at the 4:36 mark, Gustavus was able to gain a slight advantage (10-8). From that point on, the Gusties never let go of their lead.
During the second quarter, the Black and Gold continued to fight and went on a 9-2 run from 8:23 to the 5:07 mark, widening its advantage to ten (33-23). The Gusties further widened their margin to a game-high 17 points going into the half.
Gustavus’s streak continued into the third quarter, as it maintained a double-digit advantage for the remainder of the period. A lay-up from Olivia Hass (Fy., St. Peter, Minn.) at the 3:45 mark improved the Gusties’ advantage to 16 going into the final quarter.
In the fourth Gustavus held its double-digit lead, despite a tough battle from the Royals. From the 8:03 mark until the 6:19 the game went scoreless. The Gusties were able to pull through, with help from Lee, who scored the team’s last four points in the final 33 seconds of the game en route to a 79-65 victory.
The Gusties will host Macalester at 3 p.m. Saturday.