St. Ben’s Sweeps St. Mary’s, Huskies and Miami Tie Again
The St. Cloud State University baseball team notched their second win of the young season, the St. Ben's hockey team completed the weekend sweep of St. Mary's, and the Granite City Lumberjacks topped Gillette on Saturday. The St. Cloud State men's hockey team earned their second tie of the weekend against Miami University at Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. Meanwhile, the St. Cloud Norsemen fell to Bismarck in the shootout, the Gopher women's hockey team was blown out by Ohio State, the Gopher men's basketball team floundered against Maryland, the SCSU women's hockey team fell in Wisconsin, the SCSU basketball teams came up short in Moorhead, the SJU hockey team lost in Winona, and the CSB and SJU basketball teams were outplayed by Hamline. On Sunday the Minnesota Timberwolves will go head-to-head with the Western Conference-leading Denver Nuggets and the Gopher women's basketball team will visit Illinois for the second matchup between the teams this season.
RECAPS:
- The SCSU baseball team beat Southern Baptist University for the second time this weekend 15-5 in Joplin, Missouri Saturday. The game stayed close until the Huskies broke out for eight runs in the bottom of the fourth. St. Cloud extended their 12-3 lead with three more runs in the sixth to lock up the win for good. John Nett, Sam Riola, Sawyer Smith, and Garrett Bevacqua each ran in two for St. Cloud State. The Huskies improve to 2-1 and will take on Missouri Southern State in a rematch at 11:00 a.m. Sunday.
- The CSB hockey team completed the weekend sweep of St. Mary's with a 3-2 overtime win at home on Saturday. The Cardinals pushed out to a 2-0 lead in the first before the Bennies came roaring back in the second. Presley Kraemer and Aurora Opsahl both lit the lamp for St. Ben's in regulation, while Ava Stinnett scored her MIAC-leading fourth game-winning goal of the season in OT. The Bennies improve to 12-8 and sit just a half-game out of third place in the MIAC. CSB will travel to UW-River Falls on Tuesday for a non-conference matchup at 7:00 p.m.
- The Lumberjacks held off a late rally to beat Gillette 6-4. Hayden Johnson netted two goals for Granite City. The Jacks outshot the visitors 40-27 in the win. The Lumberjacks improve to 32-3-0-1 and the Wild fall to 31-6-1-2. The teams will complete the two-game series on Sunday at 7:30 p.m.
- The no. 5 SCSU men's hockey team tied Miami University for the second consecutive night with a final score of 1-1. Jami Krannila scored the lone goal for St. Cloud. Dominic Basse made 28 saves and allowed one goal. The Huskies are now 18-8-2, 10-6-2 NCHC. The team has three weekend series' left on the schedule and will travel to Grand Forks to face UND at 7:00 p.m. on February 17th.
- The no. 14 SCSU women's hockey team mounted an unsuccessful comeback and fell 3-2 to no.8 Wisconsin to split the series Saturday. The Badgers outshot the Huskies 39-11. Courtney Hall and Taylor Lind each scored one goal for St. Cloud in the loss. The Huskies fall to 16-15, 9-15 WCHA, and will face no. 7 UMD on the road Friday at 6:00 p.m.
- The no. 3 Gopher women's hockey team snapped their consecutive and at-home winning streaks with a tough 5-1 loss to no. 1 Ohio State at Ridder Arena Saturday. Minnesota scored the first goal, but the Buckeyes responded with five unanswered goals of their own. Madeline Wethington scored the lone goal for UMN. The Gophers fall to 23-4-2, 20-2-2 WCHA. The team will once again play at home next weekend when they host no. 8 Wisconsin. Puck-drop is set for 6:00 p.m. Friday.
-The SJU hockey team fell to St. Mary's on the road 7-3 Saturday to finish the weekend with a series split. Dan Wieber, Rob Christy, and Michael Spinner each scored once for St. John's. The Johnnies drop to 12-9-2, 8-5-1 and sit in second place in the conference. The team will close out the regular season with a home-and-home series against St. Olaf next weekend. The action starts at 7:00 p.m. Friday at Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.
- The SCSU men's basketball team dropped their seventh straight loss with an 83-68 decision in Moorhead. The Huskies kept up with the no. 19 Dragons through the first half and trailed 37-34 at the break. MSUM broke away in the second half, and St. Cloud was unable to rally. Luke Taylor led St. Cloud State with 20 points, and Matthew Willert added 13. The Huskies fall to 7-16, 4-14 NSIC and will look to get back on track when they return home to host Minot State at 5:30 p.m. on Friday.
- The SCSU women's basketball team dropped a heartbreaker 55-50 to MSU-Moorhead Saturday. The Dragons held a one-point lead with 30 seconds left in regulation. That lead was extended with a late three-point basket and a late foul by the Huskies that gave Moorhead two free throw attempts. Ashley Sawicki led St. Cloud with 14 points while Jada Eggebrecht added 11. The Huskies are now 15-7, 12-6 NSIC. They will try to snap out of their two-game slump when they host Minot State on Friday. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.
- The SJU basketball team came up short 88-72 at home against Hamline. St. John's trailed 52-28 after the first half. The Johnnies outscored Hamline 44-36 in the second half, but it was not enough to overcome their deficit. Bradley Cimperman led all scorers with 30 points for the Pipers, while Ryan Thissen led St. John's with 16 points. The Johnnies fall to 13-8, 10-6 MIAC and sit in third place in the conference. SJU will travel to first-place Carleton on Wednesday for a 7:00 p.m. showdown.
- The CSB basketball team fell 77-58 to Hamline at home on Saturday. Carla Meyer put up 19 points and nabbed 8 rebounds for St. Ben's in the loss. The Bennies drop to 14-7, 11-7 MIAC, and will host Carleton at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday.
- The Gopher men's basketball team got blown out at home 81-46 by Maryland on Saturday. Minnesota was short-handed and while they did tie the score up briefly at the start of the first half, they never led in the loss. Pharrel Payne led UMN with 14 points. He was the only Gopher to hit double digits. The Gophers have now lost their last seven and have an overall record of 7-15, 1-11 B1G. Minnesota will have another opportunity to turn things around when they visit Illinois at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
- The Norsemen came up short in the shootout to lose 2-1 to Bismarck at home Saturday. Anthony Ruklic scored the only goal for St. Cloud. The Norsemen fall to 19-16-2-3 while the Bobcats improve to 18-17-3-2. The teams will travel to Bismarck to play two next weekend. The action starts at 7:15 p.m. on Friday.
PREVIEWS:
- The Timberwolves (28-27) will look to put together another winning streak when they host Denver (36-16) on Sunday. The Nuggets currently sit in first place in the Western Conference, while the Wolves hold the number seven spot. The matchup is the third between the teams this season. Minnesota beat Denver 124-111 in early January and then the Nuggets won 122-118 a couple of weeks later. Denver has won their last two, while Minnesota has gone 1-1. Pre-game coverage starts at 5:30 p.m. on AM 1390 and 93.9 FM Granite City Sports.
- The Gopher women's basketball team (9-13, 2-9 B1G) will face no. 24 Illinois (17-6, 7-5 B1G) on the road Sunday. Minnesota has lost three in a row, while the Illini are 1-2 over that same stretch. The team last met at Williams Arena in mid-January with Illinois taking the win 70-57. The Gophers trail 31-40 all-time against the Illini and have not won in Champaign since 2018. Tip-off for the rematch is set for 2:00 p.m.