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Senior Skylar (Northridge, Calif./Harvard- Westlake) poured in a career-high tying 29 points to cap her collegiate career as the Carleton College women’s basketball team (8-17, 6-12 MIAC) concluded its sea- son with an 84-77 defeat at Bethel University (20-5, 14-4 MIAC).
“I am very proud of the effort and execution we put into today’s game,” said Carleton head coach Cassie Kosiba. “You always hope that you’re playing your best basketball at the end of the season, and we did that today. We went toe to toe with a very good Bethel team and just fell short.”
The first points of the game came on a three pointer by Tsutsui, a basket that tied her with Brooke Anderson ’98 for seventh on Carleton’s all-time scoring chart. Tsutsui kept scoring, finishing with 1,163 career points as she went 11-of-15 from the floor, including a season-best 5-of-6 performance from beyond the arc. This was her 13th career game with at least 20 points.
“Skylar has put every ounce of herself into this basketball program and so I was happy to see her go out at the top of her game. While we will miss having her on the court next year, I am excited about the group we have returning and look forward to seeing this team continue to grow.”
When Tstusui wasn’t scoring, Gabbi Stienstra (St. Paul, Minn./Minnehaha Academy) was. The junior chipped in 17 points, her second-highest output of the season. Tsutsui finished the season as the leading scorer on the team. In a season that saw her score her 1000th point as a Carl Tsutsui prepared a team of freshmen for tough MIAC competition.
Carleton trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half, but took a 43-42 lead shortly after intermission thanks to an 18-4 run spanning parts of both periods. It stayed a close contest for much of the second half. Bethel led 69-68 with less than six minutes remaining but earned some breathing room down the stretch with a little 5-0 spurt over the next two minutes.
The Royals had five players finish in double figures, led by Rachel Parupsky’s 29-point, 12-rebound day.
As a team, Carleton shot a season-best .538 and held its own in nearly every statistical category except rebounding, where Bethel posted a 44-28 margin, including 22 offensive rebounds leading to a significant 24-6 advantage in second-chance points.