SAINT PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus women’s basketball team hosts Saint Benedict’s at 2 p.m. Sunday for its first home game of the season. The Gusties enter 1-0 both overall and in the conference, while the Cardinals are 2-1.
THE SERIES: The contest marks the 81st all-time meeting between the two teams with Saint Benedict leading the series 50-29. The Gusties have lost the last three meetings, most recently falling to the Bennies 64-53 on January 29th, 2020.
LAST TIME OUT: Gustavus last performed on Feb. 6, winning 92-74 at Augsburg. The Gusties were successful in building their momentum offensively after the first frame. Paige Richert (Sr., Comfrey) got on the board with a layup assisted by Ava Gonsorowski (Sr., Esko). The first quarter would remain close with Augsburg holding a small advantage until a game changing three pointer from Marisa Gustafson (Sr., Mahtomedi) for Gustavus to take a one point lead before heading into the second frame.
The Gusties were able to find their offensive groove going into the second quarter to put up 26 points. The gold remained solid on defense with Anna Sanders (So., Vadnais Heights) patrolling the glass and putting up a team high seven rebounds as Gustavus led at the half, 46-36.
At the 7:02 mark into the third quarter 2019-20 Rookie of the Year Caitlin Rorman (So., Blue Earth) found her rhythm to score 11 points in the third quarter with hopes to carry the momentum of the 68-56 edge over the Auggies into the final frame.
After a slow start to the fourth quarter with the teams trading baskets, the Gusties took over the game thanks to Rorman (25), Richerts (18), and Gustafson (17) to lead the team in scoring for a 92-74 finish.
SCOUTING THE BENNIES: Saint Benedict’s has started its season 2-1, most recently falling to Concordia 82-72. The Bennies have five players with double-digit points per game in their three contests played. Maddie Schmitz leads the pack with 69 points and an average of 23 per game, has made an impressive 24 out of 25 of her free throws so far this season, and leads the conference in rebounds per game (13.3). Carla Meyer leads the team in assists with 20. Tori Szathmary is next on the stats sheet with 11 points on average a game followed by Madison Doran who has 30 points on the season. The team leads the conference in points (222) and is second on points per game (74). They shoot 42% from the field and their 80.4% free throw average puts them third in the conference. The Bennies remain strong on the rebound averaging 36.7 per game and lead the conference with just 11.7 turnovers per game.