The Gustavus women’s basketball team moved to 2-1 on the season with a 72-66 win over the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in Eau Claire on Monday evening. The Gusties were led by senior captain Bri Radtke who scored 13 points.
Gustavus got off to a quick start in the contest building a 21-10 lead over the first 11 minutes of play. During that stretch, the Gusties recorded nine steals which led to five fastbreak layups. Gustavus led by as many as 13 points in the half and went into the locker room with an 11-point, 37-26 lead.
UW-Eau Claire responded with a 12-4 run to start the second half and cut the lead to three at 41-38 with 16:44 on the clock. Bri Radtke stopped the Blugold run with a three-point basket on the next possession pushing the Gustavus lead back to six points at 44-38. The Gusties would build their lead back up to 12 points over the next several minutes and led 62-52 with 7:53 left in the game. UW-Eau Claire used an 11-2 run over the next five minutes to cut the Gustavus lead to one at 64-63 at the 2:26 mark. The Gusties responded with a key three-point basket by Katie Layman to push the lead back to four and then made 5-of-6 free throws in the final 30 seconds to hold on for the 72-66 victory.
Four Gustavus players reached double-digits in scoring including Radtke with 13, Molly Geske with 12, and Layman and Colleen Ruane with 11 each. The Blugolds Hannah Mesick led all scorers with 19 points.
The Gusties will open conference play on Wednesday at home against Carleton at 7:30 pm.