02/16/07

Needing a win to keep pace with the top four teams in the conference for one of the four postseason UMAC tournament berths, St. Scholastica (10-13, 6-6 UMAC)was perhaps one call away from the win before surrendering the final eight points to the visiting Cougars from Minnesota-Morris (13-10, 9-3 UMAC), dropping a 65-58 decision on Friday night at the Reif Center.

Senior Jessie Stenberg’s jumper and successful foul shot for a three point play put the Saints up 58-57 with 1:20 to play. But an intentional foul in the offensive end was called on St. Scholastica’s Whitney Latham the next time back down the floor following a Morris turnover and the Cougars sunk both free throws to grab a lead they would stretch to seven with a short jumper and four more free throws to close out the win.

The Saints opened a 34-32 halftime lead behind Stenberg’s nine points and Latham’s seven points. Morris was able to stay close with 14 points from Alaina Benson.

Though the Saints shot only 22 percent from the field in the second half — after hitting 44 percent in the first half — and fell behind for most of the period, they still managed to break on top of the Cougars with time winding down.

Erin Niles came off the bench to lead the Saints in scoring with 16 points while Stenberg finished with 12. Latham finished with a game-high nine rebounds.

Coresa Leighty led the Cougars with 17 points, Benson finished with 16, and Annika Bergman finished in double-figures as well adding 14 points in the win.

Heading into Friday night’s contest, the Saints were scheduled to play three of the four teams ahead of them in the UMAC standings with only three games left on the schedule. The loss puts a ‘must-win’ label on their final two games, Saturday against Presentation College and Tuesday night at Northland College, as well as now needing some assistance from other teams if the Saints are going to qualify for the conference tournament that begins Friday, February 23^rd at the site of the regular season champion.