MOORHEAD, Minn. – The Gustavus women’s basketball team Saturday finished the regular season with a convincing 81-51 victory at Concordia, improving to 14-11 overall and 11-7 in the MIAC. Justine Lee (Sr., Dawson, Minn.) etched her name in the Gustavus record books, becoming the 13th Gustie women’s basketball player to reach 1,000 career points. Lee finished the game with 17 points, including five three-pointers.
“She made shots early and has been such an important person in our program,” Head Coach Laurie Kelly said of Lee. “She has always done the little things right that maybe don’t show up in stats, so to see her rise up into a leadership role is great.”
The Gusties got off to a quick start with an early 7-2 lead before the Cobbers responded with a 9-2 run to grab an 11-9 advantage with 1:14 left in the first quarter. Gustavus finished the quarter on a 5-1 spree to regain the lead, which it never gave up the rest of the game. The Black and Gold outscored Concordia 23-15 in the second quarter and carried a 37-27 lead into halftime.
The Gusties continued to add to their lead throughout the remainder of the contest with their largest advantage of 30 points at the final buzzer.
Kendall Thompson (Sr., Eden Prairie, Minn.) joined Lee with a game-high 17 points. Thompson also hauled in a team-best 10 rebounds and was three assists shy of a triple-double. Betsy Schoenrock (Fy., New Richland, Minn.) posted a career-high 14 points off the bench in 13 minutes of action. She added five rebounds and a pair of assists.
“Betsy has come a long way and has worked really hard on the shift from high school the college basketball,” Kelly said. “She works well with Kendall and does a great job for us to give Paige [Richert] a breather.”
Gustavus enters the MIAC playoffs as the No. 5 seed and will travel to No. 4 seed Saint Benedict for a 7 p.m. quarterfinal game Tuesday.
“After today’s win, we are confident we can go on the road and win,” Kelly said. “This is what we have been working toward since the beginning of the season.”