MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris women's basketball team stayed with the College of Saint Benedict throughout, but the Bennies were able to make a couple late defensive stands to come away with a 57-52 victory on Saturday evening at James Gremmels Court.

A 10-2 run by Saint Benedict midway through the first quarter put the visitors in command at 18-8, but Minnesota Morris held the Bennies scoreless for nearly three minutes in the closing stages of the quarter and a pair of three-pointers from Haley Wollschlager brought the Cougars to within three, 18-15, heading into the second.

The 7-0 run continued with Reece Wassink scoring to start the second quarter and bringing the Cougars to within one. Following a three-pointer from Carla Meyer that ended the run and put Saint Benedict ahead, 21-17, the Minnesota Morris defense held the Bennies scoreless for more than five minutes and went on a 7-0 run with baskets from Jadyn Sondrol, Shelby Mortenson, and Tariq Brownotter. With the score tied at 26-26, Wollschlager converted a three-point play and then hit a short jumper just before the halftime horn to give the Cougars a 31-26 lead at the break.

In just over five minutes coming out of halftime, Saint Benedict went on a 12-2 run to go on top, 38-33. Jay Kwateh scored to end that rough offensive stretch for Minnesota Morris and Wassink had a pair of baskets in the final two minutes to help the Cougars get to the fourth quarter trailing by just two, 41-39.

The final 10 minutes began with buckets from Kwateh and Mortenson to give Minnesota Morris a 43-41 edge. Brownotter then broke a tie with a three-pointer before the Bennies tallied five straight points to go up, 48-46. Wassink scored with a little over two minutes left to knot the score again at 48-48 and a steal and runout from Kwateh gave the Cougars a 50-48 lead as the clock rolled under two minutes. 

The final lead for Minnesota Morris came on a Kwateh layup with 90 ticks left on the clock. On the next trip down the floor, Saint Benedict got to the line and converted a free throw, got an offensive rebound, and then hit another free throw to take a 53-52 lead. In the final minute of play, the Cougars committed three turnovers and had two shots blocked by Saint Benedict as the visitors clamped down defensively to nail down the win. 

Wollschlager finished the evening with a team-high 11 points. Both Kwateh and Wassink ended with 10 points in the contest.  Malory Anderson grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.

Minnesota Morris begins a three-game road trip on Tuesday night with a 7 p.m. matchup at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.