Duluth, Minn. - The St. Scholastica Women's Basketball team tipped off against Macalester College today in an intense game which resulted in a big win for the Saints. The deciding factor came in the final seconds of play when the Saints drained a layup for the one point win.
Kloey Lind (Pine City, Minn./Pine City HS) had a steller performance, clocking 18 points a 66.7% success rate from the free-throw line.
How it Happened
1st Quarter
The game started with a slow pace, as the Scots held the Saints off from any real success in the first few minutes. With just three minutes left in the quarter, the Scots had a 9-2 lead.
CSS started to pick it up with a notable three-pointer from
Daysia Simmons (Albertville, MN/St. Michael HS). The Saints were shooting from all ranges, as well as securing successful layups from
Kloey Lind (Pine City, Minn./Pine City HS) and
Jackie Johnson (Bemidji, Minn./Bemidji HS).
Macalester took the first quarter by a small margin of 11-15.
2nd Quarter
Johnson came out flying in the early moments of the quarter, as she took a rebound off of a Scot's missed attempt and ran down for a good layup.
The Saints trailed just slightly in the opening five of the quarter but took their first lead of the game with
Lexi Imdieke (Andover, Minn./Andover HS) finding her way to the net for a layup. The Saints led 19-18.
After a couple of minutes of misses from both teams, the energy was still equally distributed with the Saints having a small lead. Lind sealed the deal in the final seconds of the quarter off of a layup with the help of Imdieke, keeping the lead before halftime 25-22.
3rd Quarter
Halftime proved vital to both teams, as no baskets were made for almost two minutes, defense kicked into action and several steals and turnovers were added to the scoresheet.
Things started to heat up once again at the six-minute mark, with the score tied 28-28. Simmons would begin the Saints' run to success with a picture-perfect three-pointer to regain the lead.
The Saints held off the Scots from scoring any additional points for the next three minutes. But with under 30 seconds left, the Scots were only down by two, which made for a do-or-die fourth quarter.
4th Quarter
Both teams went scoreless for almost three minutes, which indicated strong defensive pressure from ends.
At 7:28, the Scots tied it up to 38 a piece but Johnson did what she does best, humbling the Scots with her dominating three-point shot. This was quickly followed by another successful three-pointer from Simmons.
It was a nail biter final five minutes as the Saints held only a small lead and the Scots were not ready to give up. With 35 seconds left, CSS had a one point lead due to Macalester's success from the free throw line.
A miscommunication on the Saints end caused the Scots to steal and take a one point lead and it was the Saints who quickly called a timeout to plan their victory. And with just seven seconds left on the clock, Lind tossed up a layup to regain the lead and take the win.
St. Scholastica defeated the Scots by a score of 51-50 after a busy and chaotic fourth quarter.
Up Next
The Saints will be back in action in the Reif this Wednesday, January 8 at 7:30 p.m. for a conference game against St. Olaf College.
