Women's Basketball 1/31/04 -- St. Benedict 66, Augsburg 55

BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (1/31/04) -- Leah Laurich (Sr., Sartell, Minn.) went 5-of-6 from three-point range in the first half and scored a game-high 17 points -- 15 in the first half -- to lead the College of St. Benedict to a 66-55 victory over host Augsburg College in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women's basketball game on Saturday afternoon at Si Melby Hall.

St. Benedict, the No. 6-ranked team in the latest D3hoops.com Division III national poll, improves to 16-2 overall and 14-1 in MIAC play with the victory. Augsburg drops to 4-14 overall, 4-11 in MIAC play.

The Blazers built a 21-point lead at halftime (42-21) and led by as many as 25 points with 10 minutes remaining in the second half, before Augsburg staged a furious comeback to cut the lead to single digits in the closing minutes. Augsburg trailed 59-34 with 9:55 left and had to play the entire second half without its top player, freshman center Selina Theisen (Fr., Circle Pines, Minn./Centennial HS), who suffered a mild concussion on a rebound in the first half.

But over the next seven minutes, the Auggies outscored the Blazers -- with most of their starters still in the game -- by a 19-2 margin to cut the lead to eight points, 61-53, with 2:55 remaining. Guard Ashley Vossen (So., St. Paul, Minn./Central HS) scored eight points, including two 3-pointers, and forward Julie Andert * (Sr., Eden Prairie, Minn.) had nine points in the Auggie run.

However, the Auggies had to struggle with foul problems throughout the second half, and the team's No. 2 scoring threat, Andert, fouled out of the game with 2:31 remaining. In just her second game back in the Auggie lineup after missing five games with a separated shoulder, Andert had 13 points, eight rebounds and three assists.

St. Benedict stretched the lead back to double digits in the final minutes, as Kim Johnson (Jr., Arden Hills, Minn./Mounds View HS) hit two free throws after Andert fouled out, and Anna Heikenen (So., Edina, Minn.) hit a crucial basket with 1:06 left in the game to give the Blazers a 10-point lead.

St. Benedict took advantage of 19 Augsburg fouls, hitting 15-of-19 at the free-throw line. Meanwhile, Augsburg hit just 7-of-9 at the charity stripe on 14 Blazer fouls. The Blazers also used their dominating height advantage with success, outrebounding Augsburg by a 49-30 margin -- limiting the Auggies to just four offensive rebounds while converting 20 second-chance points on their 20 offensive rebounds.

Heikenen had 13 points and five rebounds, one of eight Blazers to score in the game. Johnson had 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds, with Katie Kempe (Fr., St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall HS) coming off the bench to score nine points. In all, St. Benedict scored 19 points from its bench, compared to Augsburg's four.

Vossen led the Auggies with 17 points, hitting three 3-pointers and pulling down five rebounds. Missing the second half, Theisen saw her consecutive-game streak of scoring in double figures halted at 16 straight games, as she scored just three points and had five rebounds.

Katie Kelsey (Jr., Burnsville, Minn.) scored nine points for the Auggies, as did Ashley Sasek (Jr., Waukesha, Wis./Kettle Moraine HS), who added five assists, two steals and three rebounds.

St. Benedict did most of its damage in the first half, hitting 9-of-19 from three-point range (47.4 percent) and 16-of-38 (42.1 percent) from the field in building its 21-point advantage at the break. The Blzzers opened the game on a 10-3 run and used a 13-0 run over a four-minute span midway through the first frame to build its then-comfortable double-digit lead.

Augsburg was limited to just one offensive rebound in the first half and went 9-of-27 (33.3 percent) from the field, 1-of-6 (16.7 percent) from beyond the arc.

But in the game overall, Augsburg ended up hitting 41.5 percent (22-of-53) from the field, hitting 13-of-26 in the second half. St. Benedict connected on just five field goals (18.5 percent, 5-of-27) in the second half and ended the game shooting 32.3 percent (21-of-65) from the field.

Both teams return to MIAC action on Monday (2/2) at 7:30 p.m. Augsburg plays at St. Thomas, while St. Benedict hosts St. Mary's.