Notables
-Crown made just one field goal in the fourth quarter
-The Saints shoot at least 40 percent for the third time this season
-CSS makes a season-high 16 free throws
-Points off Turnovers: CSS-23, Crown-7
DULUTH, Minn. (
csssaints.com) - The St. Scholastica women's basketball team pulled away from Crown College with a 19-6 fourth quarter to win 64-47 Saturday night at the Reif Gymnasium. CSS leads the series 38-0 all-time.
First Half
Holly VanKempen (Elbow Lake, Minn./West Central HS) and
Danielle Cieluch (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS) gave St. Scholastica an early 4-0 lead. The Saints led by as much as 10 in the quarter, right after a
Rashonna Thomas (Minneapolis, Minn./Columbia Heights HS (Anoka-Ramsey CC)) layup with two minutes left. CSS led 20-12 at the end of the first period.
However, Crown (6-9, 2-5 UMAC) used the second quarter has an opportunity to try and catch up. The Storm scored the first eight points of the quarter to tie the game at 20-20.
Chelsea Swatek (Cromwell, Minn./Cromwell HS) quickly shot and scored a layup, putting the Saints in the lead 22-20. A minute later, Crown tied up the game 22-22. Thomas then scored a three-pointer to give back CSS the lead at 25-22.
The Storm responded with two layups in a row to give Crown its first lead at 26-25.
Kaylee Kennedy (Littlefork, Minn./Littlefork-Big Falls HS) fought back, scoring a three-pointer on the next possession, giving St. Scholastica a 28-26 lead. The score was 30-26 going into the second half of the game.
Second Half
The Saints opened the second with a strong start with a layup from VanKempen to increase their lead to six.
St. Scholastica kept a slight lead during the third quarter, with the two teams getting as close in scores as 39-35. Crown took this opportunity to score two layups, tying the game for the third time.
With one minute left to go in the third, Thomas shot two good free throws to bring the score to 41-39 in favor of the Saints. CSS was able to bring the score to 45-41 before the start of the fourth quarter.
In the last quarter, the first points came three minutes in with a layup from VanKempen. In fact, CSS scored the first 11 points of the half and Crown made only one field goal in the entire period and that came in the final 10 seconds. The final buzzer rang, and St. Scholastica won with a final score of 64-47.
Top Performances for CSS
Thomas scored 13 points. VanKempen and
Michala Walther (Roseville, Minn./Concordia Academy) each added 11 points. Thomas and Walther have now scored in the double digits in each of the last five games. CSS is 5-2 when both players score 10 points or more.
VanKempen now has 131 blocks over the course of her career. She is now second on the program's career block list.
Top Performances for the Opponent
Desiree Davis led the Storm by scoring 18 points. Kayla Carter added 10 points.
Up Next
The Saints (8-7, 4-3 UMAC) travel to Ashland, Wisconsin for a game against Northland College on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
