<ver and Megan Erlandson scored 14 points apiece, and Akemi Arzouman added 12 as the Carleton College women’s basketball team pulled off a huge upset Wednesday, defeating host Macalester College, 60-48, and delivering head coach Tammy Metcalf-Filzen her 250th career win.
The Knights (3-9, 3-6 MIAC) and Scots (7-5, 7-2 MIAC) entered the contest at nearly opposite ends of the conference standings, but Carleton used a balanced scoring attack and surprisingly strong rebounding effort to steal the win. The loss drops Macalester out of a tie atop the conference standings.
“We played outstanding defense tonight; we played together as a team,” Metcalf-Filzen said. “The defense was the key for us, and in that defense, we did a nice job on the boards against the top rebounding team in the conference.
Megan Mileusnic was perhaps the player of the game, as she gave the Knights a tremendous effort on the boards with 11 rebounds to go with eight points. Arzouman chipped in eight boards, and Kayla Kramer provided a spark off the bench with five points and five rebounds as Carleton bested the Scots on the glass by a 43-36 margin. Macalester had entered the game leading the conference in rebounding with the Knights 11th out of 12 teams.
The effort was especially surprising given the health of the Knights and the humiliating 66-31 loss suffered on Saturday against St. Thomas.
“We had a number of kids not feeling well, and they focused and took care of the details that we needed to take care of,” said Metcalf-Filzen. “I’m really proud of the way we stepped up especially coming off that game on Saturday—where we could have been discouraged—instead we come up with a really big road win.”
For Metcalf-Filzen, the victory improved her career coaching record to 250-137, second among active MIAC coaches. In her 13-year tenure as head coach at Carleton, she has posted a 224-111 (.669) mark, making her easily the winningest coach in school history. It is hard to overstate the impact Metcalf-Filzen has had on Carleton’s women’s basketball program. In the 24 seasons before her arrival, the program posted just a .310 winning percentage (139-310).
The Knights hope the upset provides some much-needed momentum as they look to climb back into the MIAC playoff hunt. Carleton will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 16, traveling to Minneapolis for a 1 p.m. contest at Augsburg College. The game can be heard live on KDHL 920AM with a simulcast on Knights Online.
