ST. PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus women’s basketball team was led by Miranda Rice’s (Jr., Forest Lake, Minn.) career-high 30 points in the 71-50 win over the College of Saint Benedict Saturday afternoon at Gus Young Court.
With the victory, Gustavus matches a program best 13-0 record to begin a season; first set by the 2002-03 Gustie squad. The Gusties also remain undefeated in the MIAC at 6-0.
“The record is great,” said Head Coach Laurie Kelly. “For the girls, it’s a great accomplishment but our goal is still just one game at a time, keep getting better. We talked before the game about games and opponents like this [Saint Benedict] just help us get better. The fact is, we want to be the best team we can be and so we work on that every day. It wasn’t our greatest performance. I think the great thing is that our whole slogan has been “grind for greatness.” Sometimes you just have to grind out a win and I thought we did that.”
Miranda Rice shot 12-17 from the field and led the Gusties with nine rebounds. Her 30-point performance outlasts her previous career-best performance of 26, set against Martin Luther Nov. 11.
“Miranda was just huge for us. Her presence inside really helped us, especially when Hannah Howard (Sr., St. Paul, Minn.) got in foul trouble,” said Kelly.
In the first half, the Gusties shot 11-27 from the field and took a 33-20 into halftime. Gustavus stayed ahead in the second half, running away from the Blazers and capturing its largest lead of the game at the 1:47 mark of the fourth quarter when a jumper from Taylor Anderson (So., Rogers, Minn.) gave the Gusties a 24-point lead.
Coming into the game with 1,076 career points, Mikayla Miller (Jr., Goodhue, Minn.) tallied 10 more to move into the top-10 career scoring leaderboard. Miller passes Molly Mathiowetz (2007-11) and Pat Mickow (1982-86) to sit at ninth all-time with 1,086 career points.
The Black and Gold also saw strong contribution from Kelsey Carpenter (Sr., St. Peter, Minn.), who shot 3-7 from beyond the arc and totaled a season-high 14 points. Justine Lee (So., Dawson, Minn.) also notched a career-high six assists.
“The team feels good, we are in a good place right now,” Kelly commented. “We feel confident yet we’re not content. We’ll enjoy this win and then we’ll come back, roll up our sleeves and go back to work for our next opponent.”
Gustavus next heads to Arden Hills, Minn. next Wednesday to take on Bethel University. The Royals (5-1 MIAC) are set to host the Gusties at Robertson Center Gym, Dec. 11 at 7 p.m.