WINONA, Minn. – The Gustavus women’s basketball team defeated Saint Mary’s University by a score of 49-45 Saturday afternoon to remain undefeated and move its record to 9-0 (4-0 MIAC) on the season.
Despite recording its lowest scoring game of the season, the Black and Gold found a way to defeat the Cardinals of Saint Mary’s, who knocked the Gusties out of the MIAC Playoffs a season ago.
For the eighth time this season, the Gusties got on the board first. Despite the early lead, Gustavus trailed after the first quarter of play for the first time this season. Saint Mary’s held a 15-13 lead after the first quarter.
Saint Mary’s owned the lead for the majority of the second quarter. With 3:09 minutes remaining in the first half, team captain Hannah Howard (Sr., St. Paul, Minn.) converted a layup to give the Gusties a 23-21 lead and give Gustavus a momentum booster rolling into the second half. The Gusties led by a score of 27-26 after two quarters of play. They shot 11-25 from the field in the first half.
As the Gusties struggled from three-point range, they turned to their post play. Gustavus outscored Saint Mary’s by a mark of 30-12 in points in the paint. Miranda Rice (Jr., Forest Lake, Minn.) led the Gusties in scoring with 15 points, going 6-12 from the field.
Hannah Howard and Mikayla Miller (Jr., Goodhue, Minn.) were also in double digits on the scoresheet, each tallying 12 points.
“It was definitely a defensive game,” said Head Coach Laurie Kelly. “If you told me we were only gonna score 49 points, I probably wouldn’t have thought we were going to win. It was a game that was different than what you thought it would have been. It came down to defense, we struggled from behind the arc and struggled to make shots. That was something that has come pretty easy to us in the first eight games, so I really give credit to the girls defensively that they were able to pull out a win.”
Gustavus established its largest lead of the game with just over a minute remaining in the third quarter, taking a five-point lead after a layup from Miranda Rice. The Cardinals battled back in the fourth quarter and owned a five-point lead around the midway point of the final frame. In the final minutes, the Gusties regained the lead. Hannah Howard sank two free throws with under 30 seconds remaining to give the Black and Gold a two-possesion lead and a 49-45 final score.
“Howard stepped to the line and hit two of the biggest free throws of her career, I think,” Kelly commented. “We constantly talk about shooters having off days, but defense should be something that we are never off on. We won the battle on the glass and we got stop late, when we needed it. I think it was really important that our team was in a close game, we really hadn’t been in that situation with two-three minutes to go. We did the things that we needed down the stretch to pull out the victory.”
Gustavus has one final game before the winter break. The Gusties head to Menomonie, Wis. for a non-conference matchup with the University of Wisconsin-Stout Tuesday night.