Macalester vs. Gustavus stats & play-by-play

Last season's MIAC Player of the Year Jess Vadnais scored 20 of her 24 points in the second half and Gustavus Adolphus edged Macalester 54-51 in St. Peter. It was the conference-opener for Macalester (1-2) and both the season- and conference-opener for the Gusties, last year's MIAC runners-up and an NCAA playoff team.

Macalester led 23-14 with under five minutes to go in the opening half and was on top 27-22 at halftime as Trina PaStarr (So., Minneapolis, Minn. / Southwest) had 11 of her team-high 18 points in the period. The team's lead stretched out again to nine points at 36-27 four minutes into the second half before Gustavus began a critical 14-2 run to take a 41-38 lead with 9:36 to go.

The contest was tight the rest of the way and the score was tied 48-48 at 3:06 before Gustavus claimed the lead for good on a pair of Molly Mathiowetz free throws at 2:42. GA's lead was between one and three points the rest of the way.

Ann Baltzer (So., Bismarck, N.D.) joined PaStarr in double figures for Mac, finishing with 11 points to go along with seven rebounds. PaStarr also had three steals and a couple blocked shots. Danielle Johnson (So., DeForest, Wis. / Madison Edgewood) dished out four assists and Eartha Bell (So., Minneapolis, Minn. / Breck School) picked up five of the team's 16 steals. Majra Mucic (Fy., St. Louis Park, Minn.) came off the bench to provide eight points, four rebounds and three steals. Alyssa Lund (So., Rochester, Minn. / Mayo) led all rebounders with eight boards.

Outside shooters had a rough night as the team's combined to drain just 4-of-26 from behind the three-point arc. The big difference in the statistics was an 11-for-14 free throw performance for the Gusties compared to a 6-for-12 performance for the Scots. Macalester out-scored Gustavus 17-2 in second chance points.

Macalester play the first of its 11 games at the College of St. Catherine 's Butler Center on Saturday (Dec. 1) when it takes on St. Kate's at 3 p.m.