The Gustavus women’s basketball team, which had been scoring an average of 63.2 point per game, exploded for 92 points against St. Kate’s on Saturday afternoon and claimed an important conference win over the Wildcats. First year wing Molly Geske scored a career high 26 points to lead the Gusties.
St. Kate’s scored the first point of the game on a free throw by Molly Peterson, but the Gusties took a 2-1 lead on a lay-up by Katie Layman and would not trail the rest of the game. Gustavus slowly built its lead to double-digits and led by 12 points at 18-6 with 11:27 left in the half. The Wildcats battled back and cut the lead to five points at 29-24 at the 3:57 mark. Gustavus built its lead back to nine points at 41-30 with :58 seconds left and then Molly Geske and Kirsten Prunty hit back-to-back three point baskets in the final minute of play giving the Gusties a 15-point lead at 46-31 at halftime.
Gustavus went on a 10-2 run to start the second half pushing its lead to 23 points at 56-33 with 17:03 left in the game. The Gusties started scoring in bunches and pushed its lead to 38 points at 75-37 at the 10:17 mark. St. Kate’s staged a big rally in the final 10 minutes of play outscoring the Gusties 35-16, but it was too little, too late as the the Wildcats were only able to cut the lead in half and Gustavus still managed to claim a convincing 19-point victory.
Both teams shot very well in the game as Gustavus made 49.2 percent of its shots from the field (32-65), while St. Kate’s made 47.3 percent of its shots (26-55). The Gusties were led in scoring by Molly Geske with 26 points, followed by Bri Radtke with 14. The Wildcats were led by Laura Kalbfell with 23 points.