Blazers Take Title, 77-74

St. Cloud Times Feb. 27, 2005

Frank Rajkowski, Staff Writer

Kim Johnson knows the end of her collegiate basketball career is drawing near, but the College of St. Benedict senior made sure it didn't happen Saturday afternoon.

The 6-foot-4 Blazers post scored 17 of her team-best 19 points in the second half, including nine during a pivotal 11-0 run, as third-seeded St. Benedict hung on to beat No. 1 seed Carleton 77-74 in an emotional MIAC tournament championship game played before a boisterous crowd of 1,350 at West Gym.

"I'm not ready to be done yet," said Johnson, whose team (22-4 overall) earned the MIAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament with the victory.

"In my last game in high school, we were up the whole game and lost by one. I wasn't about to let that happen again. That's what I was thinking about on the bus on the way down here. I wanted to do whatever it took to keep our season going."

The NCAA playoff pairings will be announced tonight. First-round play begins Wednesday. It will mark the Blazers' first trip to the Division III tournament since 2002.

The Knights, who had won the last four MIAC tournament titles and beat St. Benedict in both previous meetings this season, likely finished their season 19-6.

"We just had big play after big play today, by numerous people," Blazers coach Mike Durbin said. "I told Kim at halftime that she had 20 minutes left, and she came up so big for us.

"She was a big reason we won this game down the stretch. She was so confident. She really played like a senior who knew the season was on the line. She wasn't afraid to be that player."

St. Benedict's big second-half run came after Carleton cut the gap to 58-56 on a 3-pointer by senior Katie Freeman with 5:55 to play. Johnson answered with a 3-pointer of her own, then hit two of her team's next three field goals and went 2-for-2 from the line to give the Blazers a 69-56 lead.

"We've never played all that well here, so it was nice to come out and play a big game today when it mattered most," said Blazers sophomore guard Darby Noreen, who broke out of a scoring slump with 16 points.

Carleton outscored St. Benedict 18-8 in the final three minutes of play, including a stretch of nine points in 39 seconds. Katie Freeman, twin sister Beth Freeman and junior Megan Vig each had big 3-pointers to key a rally that cut the gap to 74-73 with 20 seconds left to play.

But a pair of free throws by sophomore Katie Kempe and one by Noreen in the final seconds put the game away.

The Knights made their charge without senior starting guard Kristi Colbenson, who landed hard on an ankle late in the second half and had to leave the game.

"That characterizes our team," Carleton coach Tammy Metcalf-Filzen said. "We've fought all year long. When Colbenson went down today, we were still fighting."

Noreen had 12 points in the first half, including three 3-pointers. Junior forward Anna Heikenen, who finished the game with 14, had 11 prior to halftime.

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