The St. Thomas women’s basketball team’s undefeated record this season and 29-game home court win streak was broken by Gustavus Adolphus College Saturday at Schoenecker Arena, with the Tommies losing 62-57.
Sophomore post Brynne Rolland led the Tommies with 21 points and 5 rebounds.
“(It was) a learning experience, I think” Rolland said. “It’s definitely sad that we have to go through a loss to go about learning new things and going through this process.”
Rolland put in 10 points for the Tommies (6-1, 3-1 MIAC) in the first half, with first-year guard Madi Schirmer and sophomore guard Shayla Wallin also leading the half with 7 and 6 points, respectively.
The Tommies led 19-12 in the first quarter, but the Gusties (6-1, 3-0 MIAC) scored five 3-pointers while the Tommies had none in the first half. The 3-point bullseyes helped Gustavus bring their lead up in the second quarter.
The Tommies were down 31-25 at halftime.
Coach Ruth Sinn expected the game to be a “hard fought one.”
“It’s just a young team that’s learning,” Sinn said. “I think it’s a good opportunity for us to reflect on and grow from this game.”
The Tommies picked up in the second half, with junior guard Macy Hatlestad scoring the only 3-pointer for St. Thomas. This helped St. Thomas enter the fourth quarter only down by one, 45-44.
“I’ve been putting in work shooting,” Hatlestad said. “My teammate found me, they did the hard part driving down the lane, I had the easy part of knocking down the shot.”
Gustavus was led by first-year forward Caitlin Rorman, who had 20 points and 7 rebounds.
The Tommies play Augsburg University at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Schoenecker Arena.
Justin Amaker can be reached at justin.amaker@stthomas.edu.
Sophia Primozich can be reach at sophia.primozich@stthomas.edu.