MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Saturday's win in Minneapolis marked the third game in a row that the Gusties never trailed, topping the Augsburg Auggies 79-50. Dominant runs across the first three quarters and a long stretch defensively where Gustavus did not allow any points to be scored told the story, allowing the Gusties to win by their widest margin since December 16th.
Gustavus came into the game with a record of 10-6, 6-3 in the MIAC, while the Auggies had struggled, coming in at 5-12, 2-8 in the MIAC. The Gusties had won the last eight against the Auggies and looked to continue the incredible fact that no one on the current team had ever lost to Augsburg.
Fresh off a 33-point performance on Wednesday, junior
Ella Peters (River Falls, Wis.) lit up the scoreboard for the first time in Si Melby Hall, hitting a three-pointer on the second time down the court for the Gusties to take an early 3-0 lead. This jumpstarted a 10-2 run, capped off by a
Kaitlyn Schaefer (Jr., Eagan, Minn) three-pointer to establish early footing on the road. Augsburg settled in as well, cutting the lead in half with an 8-4 run of their own. Up 15-10, sophomore
Bella DeHaan (Lakeville, Minn.) went on a 6-0 run herself over a span of 1:14 in game time to push the lead up to 21-12. The Auggies would get two back, but the Gusties stayed at an arm's length, ending the first quarter with a 22-15 lead. Gustavus shot 100 percent (2-for-2) from beyond the arc and shot 66.7 percent (8-for-12) from the field, 23 percentage points ahead of the home team to manufacture the early seven point margin.
The teams traded buckets early in the second quarter, with Augsburg holding a small advantage, 5-4, over the first three and a half minutes. From there, Gustavus stepped up their defensive quality, only allowing one field goal the rest of the quarter for the Auggies. The Gusties, on the other hand, would not struggle offensively. Four scorers, Peters, DeHaan, sophomore
Anna Goodman (Lakeville, Minn.), and junior
Kendyl Queensland (Grand Meadow, Minn.) led a swift offensive attack, going on a 15-3 run to push the lead to 18 by the end of the half. Gustavus only attempted one three-pointer in the quarter, but made up for it with other scoring, going 8-for-13 overall from the field in the frame. Across the first half as a whole, the Gusties led in the paint 22-16 and only turned the ball over once compared to the Auggies' four.
Gustavus did not take their foot off the gas whatsoever in the second half, opening up with a 10-0 run, leaving Augsburg scoreless for 6:09 of continuous game time, dating back to the 2:09 mark of the second quarter. This run was courtesy of DeHaan and Schaefer, who had six and four points, respectively, to jumpstart their team. The Auggies went on a 7-2 run themselves after they found the basket for the first time of the half, closing the gap back to 23 points. Goodman and Peters extended the lead from there with a 6-2 run and first-year
Lauren Queensland (Grand Meadow, Minn.) added her signature to the run with two more points to push the lead up to 29 on her first trip down the court of the game.
With the lead at 27 going into the fourth quarter, head coach
Laurie Kelly was able to sprinkle in some players who normally see less time on the court in the final frame. This included first-year
Chloe Scholl (Alexandria, Minn.) who made her first three-pointer in the Black and Gold and sophomore
Jordyn Williams (Garretson, S.D.) who got her first points for the program, making a free-throw late in the quarter.
DeHaan had a dominant game in Minneapolis, scoring 22 points and going 10-for-12 from the field. Goodman as well continued her stellar season dishing the ball out with six more assists and playing a team-high 27 minutes in the contest.
The team shot 30-for-56 (53.6 percent) from the field and only attempted seven three pointers, making four, compared to the Auggies' 5-for-24 (20.8 percent) clip. The lack of three-point attempts was illustrated as well through points in the paint, which was responsible for 44 of the team's 79 points in the contest. On the glass, the Gusties dominated as well, bringing down 43 rebounds compared to Augsburg's 26 which helped to score 10 second chance points and 12 fastbreak points. After scoring the first basket of the game, the Gusties never looked back and for the third game in a row, never trailed.
Gustavus women's basketball (11-6, 7-3 MIAC) now hosts an important MIAC matchup at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, hosting Hamline (14-3, 8-2 MIAC) playoff positioning at stake.
