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Ole women lose close one to Blazers

Sarah McBroom
January 10, 2002

The St. Olaf womens basketball team traveled to St. Joseph on Monday, January 7 to play the Blazers of St. Benedict in a MIAC conference contest. The Oles (6-5, 4-4 MIAC) played tough, but were defeated 66-62 by a talented Blazer team. St. Benedict is currently in a tight race for the conference title as they are in third place behind Gustavus Adolphus College and Carleton College. The Blazers trail St. Thomas by only one game.

The two teams matched up evenly throughout the game. After St. Benedict secured an eight point lead in the first nine minutes of play, the Oles found their rhythm and were able to close the gap and pull ahead; they led by seven points with one minute and 16 seconds left to go in the half. Coach Buresh commented, "We were shooting well in the first half. We moved the ball and got good looks at the basket." The Oles shot 46 percent from the field in the half, and played good defense as well, holding the Blazers to a 17 three point shooting percentage and a 29 overall shooting percentage. Despite the low percentages, St. Benedict was able to make two key plays at the end of the half to cut St. Olaf's lead from seven points to two.

In second half statistics, the Blazers' shooting improved and the Oles cooled off. St. Benedict went on a run and led for most of the half, at one time by as many as six points. The Oles stayed in it, however, and continued to play solid defense. The Oles were able to erase the Blazer lead with three and a half minutes remaining. "It was fairly even all around and it was anybody's game. With a minute and 58 seconds to go, it was still tied up," commented Coach Buresh.

In the last two minutes, both teams had several opportunities to take control and win the game. The Blazers connected on one of their field goal attempts, while the Oles narrowly missed two scoring opportunities, forcing them to foul and stop the clock. St. Benedict went up by four with three seconds remaining.

In team statistics, the only significant edge went to the Blazers in free throws; St. Benedict was 16-20 from the charity stripe and the Oles were 7-11.

Liz Mundahl (Jr, Eagan, Minn.), who went four for five from three point land, was the leading scorer for St. Olaf with 16 points, while Jill Johnson (So, Butterfield, Minn.) added 11 points. Starting point guard Carrie Cooley (Sr, Villard, Minn.) "had a very good floor game and shot well" according to Coach Buresh. Cooley had ten points, five rebounds, and five assists. Lori Enlund (So, Bloomington, Ill.) and Cara Battles (Sr, McGregor, Minn.) were the leading rebounders with six a piece. Also making an important contribution was Mayme Cupkie, who came off the bench and played tough inside for the Oles, scoring six points and securing three rebounds.

The Oles will travel to St. Paul on Wednesday, January 9 to face the MIAC leader, University of St. Thomas, at 7:30 PM. St. Olaf's next home game will be at 3:00 PM on Saturday, January 12 against Augsburg College.

Contact Judy Stromayer at 507-786-3315 or stromaye@stolaf.edu.