NEW ULM, Minn. – The Gustavus women’s basketball team traveled to New Ulm Tuesday and took down Martin Luther 94-26. With the win the Gusties move to 2-0 while the Knights fall to 0-5.
“It’s always a good opportunity when we have to go on the road and play in someone else’s gym,” said Head Coach Laurie Kelly. “We played really well defensively tonight and it was nice to be able to play some different lineups and see a balanced stat sheet. In the first quarter we were able to set the tone defensively and it was nice to get some transition baskets.”
The Gusties jumped out to a quick 8-0 in the first quarter but the Knights would rally and close the gap at 10-7. After a Gustavus timeout, the visitors would rebound, scoring 10 straight while holding Martin Luther scoreless for the last 3:56 to take a 20-7 advantage after the first quarter.
The Black and Gold carried their momentum from the first quarter into the second, where they were in sync from start to finish. They outscored the Knights 27-4 in the quarter, shooting 12-of-19 from the field in the frame, to go into the half up 47-11.
The offensive output of the Gusties continued into the second half. In the third frame, they put up a 30 points, while limiting Martin Luther to just 10, to head into the final quarter up 77-18. Gustavus kept building on their lead in the fourth, outscoring the Knights 17-8 for the 94-26 victory.
Caitlin Rorman (Fy., Blue Earth) led all scorers with 14 points on 7-of-8 shooting while Marisa Gustafson (Jr., Mahtomedi) had 11 points including 3-of-3 shooting from three point range. Marnie Wagner (Jr., New Richland) and Ava Gonsorowski (Jr., Esko) each added nine points for the Gusties, with Wagner grabbing a game-high eight rebounds and four steals. As a team the Gusties shot 36-of-63 (57.1 percent) in the game, the highest percentage in a game for Gustavus since Jan. 14, 2017.
The Gusties are back in action Saturday when they host Macalester for a 3 p.m. contest.