Women's Basketball 2/9/02 -- St. Benedict 94, Augsburg 57 

By Frank Rajkowski, St. Cloud Times
ST. JOSEPH, Minn. (2/9/02) -- Danni Hannon and her teammates have been chasing this for a long time. Now, it's finally within their grasp. The College of St. Benedict basketball team can clinch at least a share of its first MIAC title since 1999 with wins in its final two games.

"We've been working toward this all year," said Hannon, the senior post who led her team with 18 points as the Blazers rolled past Augsburg 94-57 before a Parent's Day crowd at Claire Lynch Hall Saturday afternoon. "Now the magic number is two. That means our next focus is on Concordia Wednesday night."

St. Benedict is currently 17-3 in the MIAC, 20-3 overall and in a three-way tie for first place with Carleton and St. Thomas atop the conference standings. However, the Knights and Tommies play Wednesday night. Victories over the Cobbers Wednesday and St. Mary's Saturday would guarantee the Blazers at least a share of the title with one of those two teams.

As for the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, St. Benedict defeated Carleton twice this season and head-to-head competition is the first tiebreaker. The Blazers split with St. Thomas, meaning deeper tiebreakers would have to be used.

Saturday, St. Benedict coach Mike Durbin was not exactly sure how his team would come out in such a scenario.

"We really want a conference championship, even if we have to share it," said Durbin, who returned to the bench after serving a one-game suspension earlier this week. "That's the big thing for us. We haven't had one since Mia (Peterson, the team's lone senior) was a freshman. I've thought from the beginning that this team had what it took to be a championship team. Now, it's within their reach."

The Blazers played like a team on a quest in the first half. Freshman post Kim Johnson scored nine points and Peterson added eight as St. Benedict took a 46-22 lead into the locker room at halftime. The Blazers were 18-for-35 from the field in the first half and were 4-for-6 from behind the 3-point line.

"We're not shooting (3-pointers) just to shoot them," said sophomore wing Leah Laurich, who scored 11 points off the bench to join Hannon, Johnson (14) and freshman post Tara Schloe (10) in double figures. "We're being more patient and trying to make the extra pass. The big thing is that we're getting the inside-outside game going. We're getting the ball into the posts and they're kicking it back out to us really well."

The Auggies recorded a total of 20 turnovers and St. Benedict finished with eight steals. Junior guard Michelle Barlau had four and sophomore Jill Podgorski had two. Augsburg finished 14-for-24 from the free-throw line.

"They're definitely a good team," said Auggies sophomore Julie Andert, who led her team with 15 points. "They have great 3-point shooters and they have great inside players. Our goal today was to shut down their 3-point shooting, but they're so solid, that didn't happen."

Augsburg did manage to cut into the Blazers' lead in the second half, but by then the margin was far too large to overcome.

"I told our players that we're a good team when we play without enthusiasm and a great team when we play with it," Durbin said. "You saw that by the way we came out in the first half, and by the way we played when we didn't really have it at the start of the second half. But we got it back as the half went along."

St. Benedict was in a similar position in the standings late last season before a loss to the Cobbers derailed the Blazers' title hopes. But Hannon said her team is a better unit now.

"The biggest thing we have now is depth," Hannon said. "We've been saying it all year and it's our biggest strength. We know that there's someone behind us ready to step in whenever we need them and that makes a big difference."