<rleton College women’s basketball team (12-8, 11-6 MIAC) inched closer to securing a playoff berth with a 73-64 victory over College of St.Catherine. Hannah Oken-Berg ‘09 recorded her seventh career double-double to lead the Knights, who had four players reach double digits.
Carleton is looking to secure a spot in the MIAC Playoffs for the eighth consecutive season. The Knights are currently fifth in the conference and now hold tiebreakers with St. Catherine and Bethel, with both of those teams owning a 6-11 record in conference play. With five games remaining on the schedule,Carleton is three and a half games ahead of Hamline (7-9) in the MIAC standings and four in front of Macalester (7-10), the two teams the Knights host next week.
Oken-Berg’s 20-point, 12-rebound effort highlighted a strong performance for the Carleton, which shot 63 percent after halftime to pull away.
The evening didn’t start out well for Carleton though, as the Knights missed six of the their first seven shots and found themselves trailing, 10-2, more than five minutes into the game.
Although the shots started to go in, the Knights still faced a 10-point deficit, 26-16, with five minutes remaining before halftime. Coming out of timeout,Carleton went on a 13-2 run and moved ahead when Ally Weaver ‘11 hit a jumper at the 1:48 mark.It was the Knights first lead since the game’s opening possession.
After heading to the locker room tied at 33-33, Carleton opened the second period with six quick points from Oken-Berg and never looked back.
The Knights extended the advantage to 53-40 approaching the 10-minute mark on Weaver’s second triple of the contest.
The Wildcats didn’t go away,though, and cut the deficit to three points with 1:25 remaining.Carleton, however, took care of the basketball down the stretch and secured the victory by making all six free-throw attempts during the final minute.
Joining Oken-Berg and Weaver (10 points) in double digits for Carleton were Sarah Kunelius ‘09
and Sarah Lincoln ‘09.
Kunelius had 11 points off the bench, including a pair of threepointers. Lincoln did not miss a shot, knocking down four field goals (including a triple) and a free throw en route to a 10-point night.
As crucial as the balanced scoring attack was for Carleton,equally important was the Knights’ efforts in holding down the Wildcats’ Rachel Bergland.She entered the game fourth in the conference at 16.6 points per game, but Carleton limited her to only seven points, with just two of them coming after halftime.
Earlier in the week, the Knights won its 21st consecutive game against Bethel University (9-10, 6-10 MIAC) and did so in dramatic fashion, 63-61.
Carleton struggled in the first half, making only two of their first 12 shots. They trailed by as many as 10 points and were behind 36-29 at the break. Carleton, however,looked like a different team after exiting the locker room at halftime.
With the score knotted at 61-61 and only a few seconds remaining, a shot Bethel’s Kiersten Hansen was off the mark. Annie Isler ‘08 chased down the rebound for Carleton and found Amber Connor ‘10 on the fastbreak for the game-winning layup with 0:00.7 remaining.
Oken-Berg led all scorers with 14 points. Kunelius added 11 points off the bench. Connor finished
the game with 9 points. Nautsch recorded a doubledouble (10 points, 12 rebounds), but most of her work came during the first half.
With the victory, the Knights recorded their 10th straight season with double-digit conference wins. Prior to Coach Tammy Metcalf-Filzen’s arrival, Carleton hadn’t won more than nine games during MIAC play in 16 seasons.
The Knights host Saint Mary’s University on Sat., February 9 for a women’s/men’s doubleheader.
Knights Online will feature an audio and video webcast of both games. The women tipoff at 1 p.m., with the men taking the floor at approximately 3.p.m.