Posting Up - Scoreboard - Top 25 - Features - Notables - Team of the Week - Live Audio

Game story

Schedule and Results

Related Information Carleton St. Benedict

Megan Vig was averaging 11.1 points off the bench entering Saturday's game.

NORTHFIELD, Minn. — Megan Vig scored a career-high 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds as No. 9 Carleton pushed its winning streak to 13 games by outlasting No. 2 St. Benedict, 76-75, in front of 1,200 fans at West Gym.

Linnea Engel added 15 points on 5-of-5 shooting from the field and free throw line and added eight rebounds for Carleton (13-0, 10-0 MIAC). Karissa Kramer added 11 points, including a key basket with 42 seconds left that gave Carleton a 76-71 lead. The win allowed Carleton to remain tied for first place with 14th-ranked Gustavus Adolphus, 63-37 winners over Bethel. The Knights and Gusties meet in St. Peter, Minn., on Monday.

"They just played great," Carleton head coach Tammy Metcalf-Filzen said of Vig and Engel. "They stepped up when we needed them in the first half."

Danni Hannon paced St. Benedict (12-2, 9-2) with 19 points. Northfield native Michelle Barlau tallied 16 points and Kim Johnson added 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Blazers. It marked the first time that St. Benedict has dropped two consecutive MIAC games in the 17-year tenure of head coach Mike Durbin, with both losses coming by one point.

The visitors raced to an early 15-4 lead, scoring on their first six possessions. They stretched the lead to 35-19 with 8:47 remaining in the half. They were shooting the lights out early, and sometimes it's hard to imagine that a team can shoot like that," Metcalf-Filzen said. "But they can, but once we figured out that the game plan was right and this is what we have to get out and do, we settled down and did some nice things."

Carleton rallied with a 16-4 spurt, pulling within 39-35 late in the second half as Vig and Engel tallied five points each during the run. The Blazers led 43-37 at the break.

The Blazers extended the lead back to eight points out of the locker room before Carleton made another run. Carleton outscored the Blazers 23-7 over a seven-minute stretch, taking a 62-54 lead with 11:22 left.

St. Benedict wouldn't quit, and rallied to lead 71-70 on a Johnson layup with 3:10 remaining. A Grabowski leaner, a pair of Vig free throws and a Kramer runner in the lane put Carleton up 76-71 with 42 seconds left.

Barlau canned a pair of free throws with 27 seconds, and Carleton missed two free throws on the other end. Ashley Brown's layup made it a one-point game, but Carleton again missed two free throws, giving the Blazers one last chance with five seconds. Barlau drove the length of the floor, but lost the ball at the top of the key as time expired.

"Our team just never quit," Metcalf-Filzen said. "When you get down early like that it's sometimes hard to get back, but we just played hard the whole game."

Vig, playing a major role in a game between two top 10 teams, wasn't fazed by the atmosphere of West Gym's capacity crowd. "I had a lot of adrenaline going, but I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be going into the game. The rest of the girls keep everyone up and keep the intensity high," she said.

As for her hot start, Vig pointed to some increased shooting time this week, as well as her ability to post up smaller defenders. "When I'm open, I try to look inside first because we have great post players. If I'm open, I'll shoot it," she said. "Tammy noticed when we have smaller girls on myself, Linnea or Katie Freeman, because with our height we can post up."

Both teams shot the ball well, as Carleton connected on 51.9% compared to 49.1% for the Blazers. Carleton held a 33-28 edge on the glass, with both teams committing 12 turnovers.

"I definitely think this a huge confidence-builder for us," Engel said afterwards. "Obviously they're a great team and this is some of the best competition we've been against, so it's nice to do well in games like this."