DULUTH, Minn. - In a game with playoff implications on the line, six ties, and five lead changes, the Gusties were able to come out on the winning end of a matchup with St. Scholastica, 68-62.
A game originally scheduled for Wednesday, February 18th set up a peculiar situation for both teams, being able to watch the rest of the conference duke it out in their midweek games and have a better sense of how they could improve their fate next week in the MIAC Playoffs. Gustavus (16-7, 12-4 MIAC) sat just one game ahead of St. Scholastica (16-7, 11-5 MIAC) in the standings, leaving the Gusties with a chance to climb into a tie for second in the conference standings and the Saints with a chance to three-way tie for fourth place heading into the final regular season game.
The team used a 20-5 turnover margin to score 26 points off turnovers and used the paint to find 30 of their 68 points. Individually, junior
Ella Peters (River Falls, Wis.) was able to garner a 20-point, 10-rebound double-double in 38 minutes and classmate
Whitley Ronn (Lakeville, Minn.) was able to contribute five of the team's 13 steals en route to a six point victory.
St. Scholastica came out hot on their home court, taking an early 11-4 advantage at the halfway point in the quarter. Both teams went dry for the next three minutes, but the Gusties were able to bring themselves back within two thanks to two free throws from sophomore
Olivia Grothaus (Hudson, Wis.) and a jumper from junior
Peyton Stevermer (Mankato, Minn.). After a Saint layup cut the run, Gustavus was not slowed down, going on another 5-0 run to tie the game up at 13. St. Scholastica was able to make a jumper on their last trip down the court but missed the and-one free throw, leaving the score at 15-13 in favor of the Saints after 10 minutes. Long range went cold for the Gusties in the first frame, shooting 0-for-6 from behind the mark but were able to force five turnovers to keep the Saints at bay.
Junior
Kaitlyn Schaefer (Eagan, Minn.) got things rolling in the second quarter with a three and Peters made two free throws to give the Gusties a lead, 18-15 just under two and a half minutes into the quarter. The free throws capped up a 14-4 run from Gustavus that stretched back to the first quarter, but St. Scholastica found five of their own after the run to mitigate the damage and regain the lead, 20-18. Once again, the name of the game was runs, with the Gusties responding to the Saint run with a 9-2 stretch for themselves, thanks to four points from Grothaus, a three from Ronn, and a jumper by
Bella DeHaan (Lakeville, Minn.) to extend their lead to five. For the second quarter in a row, the Saints finished the scoring, converting an and-one to bring the lead down to two, 27-25, heading into the locker room. Gustavus shot the three ball less in the second quarter, but found more success, going 2-for-4 (50 percent) from beyond the arc and forced five more turnovers.
The biggest margin in a single quarter came in the third, when the Gusties took the frame, 20-13. Peters got the scoring going for the visitors, making a jumper and a layup after St. Scholastica shortly tied the game. Once again, the Saints returned the favor with a 4-0 run of their own, but Gustavus continued to operate with a small amount of headway, with Schaefer and DeHaan both making buckets to add to the lead. St. Scholastica made two free throws to pause the run, but Peters and Grothaus smoothly resumed it, resulting in an overall 8-2 run to give the Gusties the lead, 39-33. Free throws both ways resulted in the score tightening up a bit, but Gustavus was able to finish the quarter on a 7-2 run, thanks to jumpers by DeHaan and Peters and a three-pointer from Schaefer. The visitors seemed settled in after the halftime break, shooting 9-for-19 (47.4 percent) in their first quarter on the opposite side of the gym and continued to swarm defensively, forcing six more turnovers and only giving up one.
After four more early points from Peters, St. Scholastica flipped the script and found the rhythm they had been looking for the whole game, going on a massive 17-2 run to go from down 51-38 to ahead 55-53. On the ensuing possession, junior
Anna Goodman (Lakeville, Minn.) decided she had enough, hitting a three to balance out the momentum again and give the Gusties a one point lead. The teams exchanged five points, all coming from Evie Schmitz for the Saints, who missed the January 21st game, but made up for it finishing with 21 on the night as their second leading scorer. Grothaus hit one of two free throws to give the visitors a two point lead with 2:12 left, but another layup for the Saints brought the lead back to all square at 62. St. Scholastica would not score again, while the Gusties found six more to win the game. Peters hit a layup and missed the and-one free throw, but the Gusties forced a turnover to take the ball back with just 52 ticks left on the clock. Peters was blocked with 32 seconds left, but Ronn was able to grab her fourth steal of the game which resulted in a foul and two free throws for Goodman. The same situation ensued after a St. Scholastica timeout, where Ronn was able to get her fifth and final steal of the game and Goodman sealed the game out with two more free throws.
Gustavus was able to push past a 4-for-16 (25 percent) shooting night from beyond the arc by only turning the ball over five times and found 21 points from the bench in comparison to the Saints' zero, who found 46 of their 62 points from two players. While quite back and forth, the Gusties held the lead for 22:30 and led by as much as 11 with nine minutes in the contest and finished strong after a push by the Saints with the final six points, proving to be the difference.
While Concordia has wrapped up the MIAC regular season championship, the Gusties (17-7. 13-4 MIAC) still can help decide their own fate, sitting in a three-way tie with Bethel (18-6, 13-4 MIAC) and Saturday's opponent, Saint Mary's (19-5, 13-4 MIAC). When the Gusties and Cardinals faced the first time, it was December 6th, the Gusties' conference game of the season, and lost in a devastating, double-overtime fashion, 83-73. The two teams meet again at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday on Gus Young Court, as the Gusties celebrate sole senior
Bobbie Bruns (Blooming Prairie, Minn.) for senior day.
