University of St. Thomas Athletics
2-0
Buena Vista
0-1
WBB leads throughout, defeats Buena Vista
11/16/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
STORM LAKE, Iowa – After surviving a late-game scare in Saturday afternoon's season opener, the St. Thomas women's basketball team left no doubt in Monday night's contest at Buena Vista University. The Tommies led wire to wire in a 94-79 win to improve to 2-0 on the young season, while the Beavers open their year 0-1.
The game started with a pair of St. Thomas free throws following a team technical foul. Senior Katie Stone stepped to the line and made both the give the Tommies a 2-0 lead and they would never look back, as St. Thomas led for all 40 minutes.
The remainder of the first quarter belonged to Kaitlin Langer. The junior tallied 15 points and seven rebounds in the opening 10 minutes of play. She made six of 10 field goal attempts and all three free throws as the Tommies built a 25-22 lead.
St. Thomas added to its lead in the second quarter. The Tommie women led by as many as 10 points in the period and finished with an eight-point lead (50-42) at halftime.
The Tommies continued to build on their lead in the second half, outscoring the Beavers 16-14 in the third quarter to take a 66-56 lead heading to the fourth and final quarter.
St. Thomas outscored Buena Vista once again in the final frame. This time it was a 28-23 advantage that sealed the 15-point win for the Purple. Gabby Zehrer and Morganne Gruber each scored in double figures in the quarter with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
For the game, St. Thomas shot 51.7-percent (30-58) from the field and compared to 40.6-percent (26-64) for Buena Vista. The Tommies dominated the glass, grabbing a 42-26 rebound advantage, along with a big advantage in points in the paint (48-20). St. Thomas also got to the line 37 times to just 21 for Buena vista, which led to a 31-17 edge in free throws made.
Kaitlin Langer led the way with a double-double for St. Thomas. The Stillwater, Minn., native paired a team-high 25 points with 10 rebounds to lead the way for four Tommie women in double figures. Langer's total came on 9-of-14 shooting from the floor and a perfect 7-of-7 from the free throw line.
Gabby Zehrer and Katie Stone followed with 17 points each. Zehrer needed just seven attempts to get there, as she went 5-for-7 from the field and 6-for-8 from the free throw line. Stone added two three-pointers and five rebounds. Morgan Gruber was the final Tommie to score in double figures with 12 points and was a perfect 5-of-5 from the charity stripe.
Becca Pennington led five Beavers in double-figures with 20 points. Sidney Beckman came off the bench to score 11 points, while Jasmyn Flynn-Graves, Lexi Fisher, and Lacey Vokt each added 10 points each.
St. Thomas will be back in action on Friday when it travels to Tacoma, Wash. The Tommies will participate in the Doug McArthur Classic at Puget Sound, taking on Pacific Lutheran Friday, Nov. 20 at 4:00 pm (CST) and the host Puget Sound on Saturday, Nov. 21 at 8:00 pm (CST).
