Area college basketball roundup: St. Thomas women hold on for fourth title in a row

Hannah Spaulding had 20 points and nine rebounds, Lucia Renikoff hit a big three-pointer with 90 seconds to go and host St. Thomas won its fourth consecutive MIAC women's basketball championship outright with a 67-64 victory over second-place St. Benedict on Saturday.

St. Thomas (23-2) finished 18-0 in MIAC play for the second year in a row and has won 52 consecutive conference games. The Tommies avoided sharing the title with the Blazers (22-3, 16-2 MIAC), whose only two conference losses were to St. Thomas.

Renikoff's three gave St. Thomas a 67-62 lead. Niki Fokken, who scored 25 points for the Blazers, scored to make it a three-point game, but Fokken then missed two free throws with 46.4 seconds left, and a pair of shots from Chelsey Guetter in the closing seconds both missed for St. Benedict.

St. Thomas and St. Benedict will be the top two seeds for next week's MIAC tournament, and both will have byes. The Tommies are looking for their seventh consecutive MIAC playoff championship.

St. Catherine will play at Gustavus Adolphus — the Gusties beat the host Wildcats 77-66 Saturday — and St. Mary's will visit Bethel on Tuesday.

NSIC

Minnesota Duluth 59, Minnesota State Moorhead 47: Sammy Kozlowski scored 17 points and the Bulldogs (16-10, 13-9) ended the 16-game winning streak of the host Dragons (22-4, 19-3), leading to a three-way tie for the regular-season NSIC title.

Minnesota State Moorhead led UMD by 11 at halftime but scored only 18 points in the second half.

Minnesota Crookston 72, Mary 67: Isieoma Odor had a career-high 25 points and 14 rebounds and the Golden Eagles (8-18, 8-14) beat the Marauders (13-15, 9-13) in Bismarck, N.D.

MIAC

St. John's 57, St. Thomas 50: Tyler Weiss scored 20 points and the MIAC regular-season champion Johnnies (23-2, 19-1) held off the host Tommies (14-11, 12-8) in the season finale.

St. John's is the top seed for the upcoming MIAC playoffs and will have a bye, as will No. 2 seed St. Olaf. St. Thomas plays at Augsburg on Wednesday, while Carleton visits Bethel.

Northern State 83, St. Cloud State 63: Carter Evans scored 20 points, Darin Peterka added 18 and the host Wolves (27-3, 20-2) wrapped up their regular- season championship with a rout of the Huskies (21-7, 17-5).

Southwest Minnesota State 80, Concordia (St. Paul) 59: KJ Davis had 22 points, Michael Lee added 20 and the Mustangs (21-7, 17-5) won the NSIC South Division outright for the second year in a row with their victory over the Golden Bears (5-23, 4-18) and Minnesota State Mankato's loss.