ST. PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus women’s basketball team gets another shot at the league champion in the MIAC playoff title game today. The Gusties (22-5) travel to St. Paul with hopes of upending top seed St. Thomas (24-2) after losing in the conference championship game last season on the Tommies’ home court. Tipoff at Schoenecker Arena is slated for 3 p.m.
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MIAC Playoff History: Since the initiation of the six-team MIAC Tournament in the 2000-01 season, the Gusties have qualified for the conference playoffs every year. Gustavus is making its 18th consecutive appearance in the MIAC Playoffs this season, holding a record of 12-16 in that time. No team in the MIAC has earned a trip to the league playoffs every year except for Gustavus. Road playoff games had been tough on the Gusties as they were winless in 15 MIAC postseason games as the visiting team before Thursday’s win at Saint Ben’s. Gustavus has yet to claim a MIAC playoff title, but it has earned six trips to the NCAA tournament.
Record watch: Miranda Rice will play in her 109th career game today, which will break the program record shared by Bri Radtke (2006-10) and Kate Sandvig (2000-04) for most games played by a Gustavus women’s basketball player. Mikayla Miller currently has 1,748 career points, which trails program record holder Jess Vadnais (2004-08) by 31 points. Miller is already the program record holder in career steals (308) and career field goals made (613).
The Series: Today’s game marks the 83rd meeting between Gustavus and St. Thomas with the Tommies holding a 59-23 leads in the all-time series. St. Thomas has won the past 20 meetings with the last Gustavus win on Feb. 17, 2010.
St. Thomas swept the regular season series with a 74-66 win on Dec. 13 in St. Peter, and a 61-45 win on Jan. 24 in St. Paul. In the most recent meeting, the Gusties shot a pedestrian 29.1 percent from the floor and had just six players on the score sheet. St. Thomas scored the first points of the game and never trailed. Gustavus was able to tie the game 18-18 to start the second frame, but the home team ended the half on a 9-2 run and carried a 32-23 advantage into the locker room.
The two teams traded buckets to start the second half going back-and-forth between a seven- and nine-point difference before the Tommies made it a double-digit spread for good with 4:25 remaining in the third quarter.
Gustavus’s one advantage was on the glass as it out-rebounded the Tommies 35-33. Miranda Rice and Mikayla Miller led the Gusties with 13 and 10 points, respectively. Miller also hauled in nine rebounds and had five assists. Hannah Spaulding led the Tommies with 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the floor, along with 11 rebounds. Lucia Renikoff added 19 points.