ST. JOSEPH — Junior guard Megan Morgan had a season-high 23 points, but the College of St. Benedict dropped a 78-69 decision to Bethel in a battle for first place in the MIAC standings on Wednesday, Jan. 8, at Claire Lynch Hall.
With the setback, St. Benedict falls to 4-1 in league play and in third place in the MIAC. CSB, which has won eight of its last 10 games, is now 9-3 overall. With their win, Bethel (9-3) improved to 5-0 in the MIAC and ahead of No. 6 Gustavus (4-0 MIAC, 11-0 overall) by a half-game in the league standings.
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will now hit the road for a pair of games at St. Catherine at 3 p.m., on Jan. 11 and at Concordia-Moorhead at 7:30 p.m., on Wednesday, Jan. 15.
Against Bethel, Morgan had her best game of the season as she hit 7-of-13 field goals, including 2-of-5 from three-point range, and knocked down 7-of-8 free throws for her 23 points. For Morgan, it was her third career 20-point game.
Aside from Morgan, CSB had two other players reach double digits including freshman forward Sofia Baldessari, who had 12 points and six rebounds, and senior guard Sophia Jonas, who supplied 12 points to go with six rebounds, three assists and four steals.
Jonas hit a pair of three-point field goals and now has 223 in her career and also has 52 double-digit scoring games in her career. The Bennies also had nine points and two steals from first-year guard Lauren Arnold and a team-high seven rebounds from Kira Young.
Overall, the Bennies knocked in 40.6 percent from the field, hitting on 26-of-64 field goals, including 6-of-21 from three-point range for 28.6 percent. CSB, which lost the rebound battle, 34-to-28, made 11-of-15 free throws.
Key to their win was Bethel’s 18-to-8 advantage in points from turnovers and a 40-to-36 margin of points in the paint. They also had a 26-to-7 edge in bench points.
After CSB had a 21-15 advantage in the first quarter, the Royals used a 17-10 margin to take a 32-31 lead to halftime. Then, Bethel outscored CSB, 22-20, in the third quarter and 24-18 in the fourth quarter to grab the conference win in a game that included eight lead changes and six ties. The Royals were led by Anna Garfield with 18 points while Emily Erickson had 15.
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