ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Macalester women's basketball team played in front of its home crowd this afternoon, taking on the Bennies of Saint Benedict. While the Scots held a one-point lead into halftime, the Bennies pulled away in the second half, as Macalester fell 64-49. The Scots are now 8-11 (5-9 MIAC) while the Bennies are 10-7 (8-5 MIAC).
The Bennies got off to a quick 5-0 start but first year guards
Sydnee Smith (Gainesville, Va./Patriot) and
Mary Daley (Cumberland, R.I./Bishop Feehan) quickly closed the gap. Saint Benedict tried to pull away again, but a successful and-one by junior guard/forward
Peyton Starks (St. Louis, Mo./John Burroughs School) tied the game at nine, with 4:02 on the clock. The Bennies put up two threes to end the quarter, but Macalester's Starks and junior guard/forward
Katherine Norquist (Chicago, Ill./Walter Payton College Prep) answered back and the quarter ended at 15-15. Sophomore forward
Ellie Corbett (Austin, Texas/James Bowie) opened the scoring for the Scots in the second quarter with an important three-pointer to take the lead 18-16. Starks and Smith built the lead to 24-19 with 2:49 left in the half. Yet Bennies answered back and Macalester's lead went down to one, 26-25, at halftime.
The third started with the Bennies going on an 11-2 run. First year guard
Acacia Edmond (Houston, Texas/Shadow Creek) ended their run, with Scots trailing 36-30 with 5:36 on the clock. Daley closed the gap four, but the two teams went back-and-forth the rest of the way, as the Bennies led 46-38 into the final quarter. Senior guard
Caitlin Panos (North Andover, Mass./North Andover) sank one from beyond the arc to kick it off for the Scots. However, the Bennies built a lead as large as 16 points with 2:42 left. The Scots fell to the Bennies 64-49.
Starks registered a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Norquist also totaled double digits with 10 points. Smith made three blocks on the afternoon. Macalester shot 39.6% from the field.
Macalester's next game will be Wednesday Jan 31. The Scots play Bethel at 7:00 p.m. on the road.
