SAINT PETER, Minn. – The No. 21 Gustavus women’s basketball team rallied in the second half to defeat UW-River Falls 82-66 Monday night. With the win the Gusties move to 9-1 on the year, while the Falcons fall to 4-6.
“What changed for us after half is that we really played Gustavus basketball in the third quarter,” said Head Coach Laurie Kelly. “We have to be the team that it doesn’t matter where or who we play, we have to come out and play Gustavus basketball every night. In the first half they came with more energy and were very aggressive and it showed in every statistical category. Then in the second half, it all got going for us because we played solid on the defensive end.”
The Gusties got off to a slow start, falling behind 8-2 early but a layup followed by a three-pointer from Gabby Bowlin (Jr., Winona) would trim the lead to one. After a Falcon basket extended their lead to three, the teams would play scoreless for two and a half minutes. Ava Gonsorowski (Jr., Esko) broke the dry spell with a layup, before UW-River Falls closed out the quarter on a 4-0 run to take a 14-9 lead after one quarter.
The two teams played even the first six plus minutes of the second quarter, before River Falls went on a 7-0 run to take a 32-20 lead with 2:22 remaining in the half. Caitlin Rorman (Fy., Blue Earth) and Paige Richert (Jr., Comfrey) would combine for seven points in the final two minutes, as the Falcons added two more points and went into the half up 34-27.
Gustavus played their most complete quarter in the third frame and took over the game in the 10 minute span. After trailing 40-32 with 7:59 to play, Gustavus scored 16 straight points to take a 48-40 lead. River Falls would battle back late, cutting the deficit to 54-48 heading into the final quarter.
Once again the Gusties played strong, slowly adding to their lead in the final frame. Alison Hinck (Jr., Vadnais Heights) knocked down a pair of threes midway through the quarter to put Gustavus up 10. Then, two Bowlin layups including an and-one, in between two Maddy Rice (Fy., Forest Lake) three pointers would all but put the game away. After Rice’s second three put the Gusties up 15 with 2:47 to play, the two teams would play even late as the Gusties took the 82-66 victory.
Bowlin was stellar throughout, putting up a career high 23 points and six assists, while also adding six rebounds and a pair of steals. Gonsorowski added 15 for the Gusties to go alon gwith a game-high nine rebounds, while Rice poured in 11 off the bench. After shooting 10-of-36 in the first half, the Gusties were 20-of-30 in the second half in the victory.
“Gabby was really big for us tonight, we got good production off the bench, and we finally were able to make some threes and spread out the defense,” said Kelly.
The Gusties are next in action on Saturday when they host St. Olaf for a 3 p.m. contest.