Blazers Clinch Share of MIAC Title

02/20/2008

The College of Saint Benedict basketball team (18-3 MIAC, 20-4 overall) defeated the St. Catherine Wildcats 68-54. With their win tonight, the Blazers secured at least a share of the 2007-08 MIAC title. The regular season championship is CSB’s third consecutive and eleventh in school history. A win on Saturday at St. Thomas would give the Blazers the MIAC title outright; and a loss would result in a shared title. CSB finished the regular season with a perfect home record, 11-0. Leading the Blazers in scoring was sophomore wing Mindy Schmidt (Brooklyn Park, Minn./Champlin Park High School), who scored 20 points. Schmidt reached the 20-point mark for the fifth time in the last seven games as the Blazers.

CSB started the game off strong with a 9-2 start, which appeared to foreshadow the remainder of the game. However, St. Catherine fought back quickly and grabbed its first lead, 13-11, at 10:51 in the first half. The following four and a half minutes contained six lead changes as the teams struggled for an advantage. The Wildcats retained their two-point lead, 24-22, with 3:20 left in the half. At that point, the Blazers turned up the intensity and made a dramatic surge into halftime. Defensively, CSB did not allow St. Catherine to make another field goal for the rest of the half. In that time, the Blazers swiftly completed an 11-1 run that put them up 33-25 going into the locker room. The last minute streak was sparked and sustained by Schmidt, who scored nine of the 11 points entering the break.

The Blazers slowly built upon their halftime lead for the duration of the game. CSB’s defense continued to force the Wildcats into tough shots, and ultimately, a 27.9 team field goal percentage for the game. The Blazers retained solid control of the ball, and in turn, control of the game. CSB turned the ball over just nine times in the game, and only twice in the second half.

First-year post Danielle Frank (Caledonia, Minn./Caledonia High School) recorded her seventh double-double with 12 rebounds and 16 points, off of 7-for-9 shooting. Frank was also a force on defense as she totaled seven blocked shots for the third consecutive game. Senior wing Mackenzie O’Neil (Waseca, Minn./Waseca High School) chipped in 11 points offensively and two blocks and two steals on defense.

CSB is next in action when it takes on St. Thomas at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 23 in St. Paul. If the Blazers defeat the Tommies and earn sole possession of the MIAC title, it will be the first time in MIAC history that a team has completed a regular season three-peat without sharing any of its titles.

Stats | Basketball | CSB Sports

Peter Banick, CSB Athletic Media Relations Student Assistant

Athletic Department
College of Saint Benedict
37 South College Avenue
St. Joseph, MN 56374
320-363-5301
Fax 320-363-6098