Notables-CSS extended its season-high winning streak to seven games-The Saints can earn a share of the UMAC title with a win tomorrow and losses by Northwestern and Minnesota Morris-No team led by more than nine points in this contest
DULUTH, Minn. (csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica women's basketball team defeated Bethany Lutheran College by a score of 73-65 Friday night to win its seventh straight game and remain in contention for a UMAC regular season title.
The first eight minutes of the first half featured a very competitive game with CSS and BLC trading every bucket they scored.
It was not until, with the score tied at 13 apiece that a team finally gained an edge. Bethany Lutheran would embark on a very quick 9-0 run over just 2:13 seconds to take a 22-13 lead with 9:39 remaining in the half.
Fortunately for the Saints, they would answer BLC's 9-0 run with a 9-0 run of their own, this one taking just under 3:30 as the Saints rallied back on a run highlighted by a
Kelsey Sorenson-Giffrow (Braham, Minn./Braham HS (Minn. Duluth)) 3-pointer to tie the game at 22 apiece with 6:16 left in the first half.
Both teams would go back to playing very competitive basketball for the remainder of the half as CSS gained a late advantage in the half and went into the halftime locker room up by four points at 36-32.
The story of the second half consists of CSS fighting hard to maintain its slim lead as it never led by more than eight points in the entire half.
Bethany Lutheran did manage to whittle the CSS lead to one possession on multiple occasions, but in each instance the Saints managed to sink a clutch shot to give themselves a little more breathing room.
The game was a nail-biter all the way to the finish as the score was brought down to just 65-69 with CSS in front after Bethany Lutheran made a 3-point basket. CSS would respond by scoring the game's final four points on free throws by
Danica Schellbach (Rush City, Minn./Rush City HS) as the Saints came away with a 73-65 victory to remain in contention for the UMAC regular season title.
Schellbach would finish the game with six points and five rebounds, while Sorenson-Giffrow finished with 18 points to lead the Saints.
Holly VanKempen (Elbow Lake, Minn./West Central HS) and
Mariah Hovick (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake HS) each contributed 12 points. The Saints finished 18-of-19 from the free throw line.
CSS (13-11, 10-3 UMAC) will finish off the regular season tomorrow when it hosts Martin Luther College in the final UMAC matchup of the season at 3 p.m. This regular season finale can be seen in the Reif Gymnasium or live on the web at Saints Sports Net.
