ST. PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus women’s basketball team saw contribution in the scoring column from 11 different players as they prevailed by a score of 73-44 over Carleton College Saturday afternoon at Gus Young Court.
With the win on senior day, the Gusties close out the regular season with an overall record of 24-1 and 17-1 in MIAC play. The 24 wins is the most regular season wins in program history and just one win shy of the most wins in a single season in program history, as the 2002-03 Gustie squad held a record of 25-4. Gustavus finishes the season in second place in the MIAC standings and also will receive the No. 2 seed for the MIAC playoffs.
Seniors Hannah Howard (St. Paul, Minn.), Kelsey Carpenter (St. Peter, Minn.), and Annie Odegard (St. Paul, Minn.) each contributed in their final regular season game at Gus Young Court. Howard led the Gusties as she recorded her second-straight double-double, her fifth of the season with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Carpenter totaled nine points, going 3-for-6 from beyond the arc and Odegard added three points while playing a career-high 12 minutes, both earning their first starts of the season.
“Senior day is an opportunity to get those ones recognized, it is always emotional during the last regular season game, but we know we get to play at Gus Young Court again,” said Head Coach Laurie Kelly.
“Hannah is going to be hard to replace,” Kelly spoke of team captain Howard. “Hopefully we can make this journey go as long as we possibly can together.
The Gusties out-rebounded the Knights by a margin of 38-27 in the game and capitalized off Carleton turnovers, converting 24 points.
After the first 10 minutes of play, the home team held a 19-11 lead over the Knights. To begin the second quarter, the Gusties then went on a 16-7 run and took their largest first half lead of 17 points with a Tierney Winter (Fy., Waterville, Minn.) layup at the 4:14 mark, leading 35-18. Gustavus owned a 41-25 lead over Carleton heading into the break after shooting 50 percent, 15-for-30 from the field in the first 20 minutes of play.
Gustavus outscored Carleton 32-19 in the second half, shooting 14-for-32 from the field. In the game, the Gusties led the Knights in assists by a margin of 24-11, and points in the paint 32-18.
“I thought we didn’t have a lot of energy coming out of the gates,” Kelly commented. “It took us a while to get any tempo going. We made some adjustments and I thought we played a much better second half. We elevated our defensive effort and we started getting some steals which allowed us to push the ball in transition.”
Mikayla Miller (Jr., Goodhue, Minn.) was the second-leading scorer for the Gusties, totaling 14 points as she went 6-for-9 from the field.
“This journey for us has been about one game at a time. Now, the top six teams go back to zero and zero,” Kelly said.
Earning the No. 2 seed and a first round by for the MIAC playoffs, the Black and Gold will a semifinal playoff matchup next Friday, 7 p.m. at Gus Young Court. Visit the MIAC Women’s Basketball Championship Page for more information.