The Gustavus women’s basketball started its series of eight consecutive road games on a sour note with a disappointing 63-58 loss at Hamline on Saturday afternoon. The Gusties led 58-57 with 1:27 left in the game, however the Pipers scored the final six points of the game to hand the Gusties their second conference loss of the season (8-3 overall, 6-2 MIAC). Bri Radtke led Gustavus in scoring with 13 points.
The Gusties jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first :90 seconds of the game, but the Gustavus would score only three more points in the next six minutes and the Pipers tied the game at 8-8 at the 13:04 mark of the first half. The rest of the half would be a see-saw affair and a three-point basket by Hamline’s Jessica Heinen with :10 seconds left would send the two teams to the locker room tied 27-27 at the intermission.
The Pipers got off to a quick start in the second half and led by eight at 41-33 with 15:03 left in the game. The Gusties would battle back and pulled to within one at 45-44 on a basket by Brittany Holm at the 10:15 mark. Hamline would maintain a slim lead for most of the second half, however a three-point basket by Gustavus’ Bri Radtke at the 4:12 mark gave the Gusties a 54-53 lead. Katie Layman hit one-of-two free throws with 1:27 left to give Gustavus a 58-57 lead, but the Gusties would not score the rest of the game, while the Pipers would put six more points on the board to claim the 63-58 win. Free throw shooting would turn out to haunt the Gusties as they made only 9-of-22 from the charity stripe in the game, while the Pipers were 7-of-8 from the free throw line.
Three Gustavus players scored in double figures including Radtke with 13, and Molly Geske and Katie Layman with 12 each. A bright spot for the Gusties was three-point shooting where the team made 7-of-15 from behind the arch including 3-of-5 shooting from both Bri Radtke and Molly Geske.
Gustavus, which played its first of eight consecutive games on the road at Hamline on Saturday, will play at Bethel University on Wednesday, Jan. 14 and at the University of St. Thomas on Saturday, Jan. 17.