02/03/07

Following a successful weekend road sweep last weekend, the Saints dropped a home game on Friday night to hastily end their win streak. On Saturday afternoon at the Reif Center the Saints turned things back toward the winning side of the ledger with an easy 70-50 win over visiting Martin Luther College (3-17, 2-8 UMAC).

St. Scholastica (8-12, 4-5 UMAC) opened up a 40-16 halftime lead over the Knights as eight different players scored for the Saints.

A 12-0 run through the middle portion of the half created a 19 point margin between the two teams. The Saints followed up with another run, this time an 8-0 stretch, that put the home team up by 25 as the half wound down.

For the first 20 minutes, St. Scholastica shot 53 percent from the field and pressured Martin Luther defensively so heavily that the Knights had only seven baskets.

The second half was played at a more pedestrian pace with less full-court pressure from the Saints who — playing with a big lead — were content to run time off the clock with their own possessions while picking up their pressure back in the defensive end instead.

Sophomore Erin Niles led the Saints with 15 points in the victory with freshman Kirsten Haukom (14 points) and senior Jessie Stenberg (10 points) also reaching double-figures.

Seniors Amanda Johnson and Heather Saralampi led the team in rebounds with five apiece as the Saints out rebounded the Knights 38 to 27.