SAINT PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus women’s basketball team built themselves a first half lead and continued to expand on it as it defeated Macalester 85-55 Saturday in its MIAC opener. With the win the Gusties improve to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in the MIAC while the Scots fall to 0-4 and 0-1 in league play.
“We didn’t play perfect today but we got the job done,” said Head Coach Laurie Kelly. “The 23 steals stands out and we also had 20 assists which is really big. Having four players in double-figures is good to see as we got a lot of inside-out scoring production. We missed a handful of easy shots and we didn’t shoot the ball particularly well, especially from three. But 17 offensive rebounds gave us a lot more chances when we maybe weren’t making shots we normally do.”
The Gusties opened the game strong, gaining an 8-0 edge early, before the Scots battled back to bring it to 14-11. The Gusties then scored five straight, capped off by an and-one from Hailey Sorenson (Jr., Buffalo) before Macalester notched one bucket late to give the Gusties a 19-13 edge after the first quarter.
Gustavus built momentum early in the second, going on a 13-2 run to extend its lead to 32-15 with 5:20 remaining in the half. The Scots would score eight of the next 10 to pull the lead to 34-23 but the Gusties would rally late and take a 44-28 lead after one half of play.
Gustavus used stellar play from the trio of Caitlin Rorman (Fy., Blue Earth), Ava Gonsorowski (Jr., Esko), and Paige Richert (Jr., Comfrey) in the third quarter to add to their lead. The three Gusties scored the first 17 Gustavus points, as Macalester scored 13 in the first 8:21 of play in the second half to give Gustavus a 61-41 lead. Marisa Gustafson (Jr., Mahtomedi) would then score five straight points before a free throw each from Gonsorowski and Sorenson would put Gustavsu up 68-41 going into the final frame.
The Gusties and Scots played fairly even in the final frame as Gustavus outscored Macalester 17-14 for the 85-55 victory.
Rorman led all scorers in the contest with 24 points to go along with 10 rebounds for her second double-double of the year. Gonsorowski, Gustafson, and Richert also hit double-digits as they finished with 14,13, and 12, respectively.
Overall, our effort was solid for 40 mintues, said Kelly. “We’re moving in the right direction and although we have a long way to go, we continue to get better every time we step on the floor.”
The Gusties are next in action Tuesday when they host Concordia for a 7:15 contest.