ST. JOSEPH, Minn. - The University of Minnesota Morris Cougars Women's Basketball team opened up the 2024-25 season at the St. Benedict's Tournament. The Cougars took on two MIAC schools, falling 49-78 to the College of Saint Benedict and 42-64 to Hamline University. The Cougars will get another chance at action Nov. 12, opening home play at 7:30 against Concordia College. 

St. Benedict's, 78 - Minnesota Morris, 49

The Bennies opened the scoring on the day with back-to-back three pointers that went unanswered for almost a minute. The first four points for Minnesota Morris came from layups off the fingertips of Maddy Grove. Grove hit two jumpers for the Cougars with six minutes remaining in the first quarter, keeping the scoring gap within three. The Bennies began to pull, getting up by fifteen over the Cougars as the visiting team struggled to find the bottom of the net. Unable to respond, Minnesota Morris trailed 9-27 at the end of the first. 

Gabby Randt came off the bench for the Cougars three minutes into the second quarter, hitting two jumpers back-to-back for Minnesota Morris. Both offenses struggled for a few minutes, missing shot after shot from all over the floor. St. Benedicts managed four more points in the quarter, while Claire Stark put a layup in the net. The Cougars went into halftime with a 21 point deficit to make up.

The Bennies made the first four shots of the third quarter, finding a 31 point lead. Stark was the one to open scoring for Minnesota Morris, shortly followed by Grace Perry and Savanna Pelzer who both sank three pointers for the Cougars. Despite the offense starting to heat up, St. Benedict matched the Cougar's scoring and maintained a 33 point gap. Stark and Pelzer scored a layup and three pointer respectively for Minnesota Morris, but it was not enough to keep the Bennies close heading into the fourth quarter trailing 60-28. 

The Cougars continued to trail by more than thirty in the fourth, before five points from Jordan Ohman-Bjork in a minute long window pulled the scoring gap back down to 26. Minnesota Morris continued to fight to get back into the game, but the Bennies were quick to respond with buckets of their own. The final buzzer sounded with the visiting Cougars trailing 49-79 on St. Benedicts.

Grove and Pelzer earned ten points a-piece on the day, leading the Cougars in scoring. Pelzer tacked on five rebounds and two steals to her stat line. Ohman-Bjork earned six rebounds and five points of her own. Perry and Randt also hauled in five rebounds. 

Hamline, 64 - Minnesota Morris, 42

The Cougars held a 5-2 lead over the Pipers early in the game thanks to five points from Grove. Pipers tied things up with a three 5 minutes into the quarter, before a three from Pelzer put Minnesota Morris ahead 8-5. The Cougar offense struggled the score for the remainder of the quarter, giving Hamline a 13-8 lead heading into the second. 

Hamline sparked their offense early with a three-pointer five seconds into the second quarter. A layup from Stark and a jumper from Grove kept the Cougars within seven of the Pipers. The offense for both teams struggled to find the bottom of the net despite getting open looks at the rim. Grove scored with 45 seconds left in the quarter, but the scoring gap remained wide with the Pipers up 32-14 at halftime. 

The third quarter stayed scoreless for the Cougars until free throws from Grove and a layup from Stark brought Minnesota Morris back to within sixteen points of the Pipers. The Cougar offense managed to score nine more points in the quarter, but Hamline forced the scoring gap up to twenty heading into the fourth quarter. 

Perry dropped the first three points of the quarter for Minnesota Morris, followed by three more from Grove on an and-one. Turnovers plagued the Cougar offense for the next several minutes, and the Piper offense capitalized with nine points in that time. The Cougars dropped nine points in the remainder of the quarter but were matched by Hamline for scoring. The final buzzer sounded with Minnesota Morris trailing 42-64 to the Pipers. 

Grove dropped seventeen points on the day, leading the Cougars in scoring by a large margin. Itzel Salazar earned seven boards, battling under the basket for five defensive rebounds.