Women’s basketball (5-19, 4-17 MIAC) showed what might be a preview to a successful 2002-2003 season with a 63-56 win over MIAC playoff hopefuls St. Mary’s last Wednesday evening.

Macalester successfully avenged a 73-49 loss at St. Mary’s on Jan. 14.

In their last chance to impress their home crowd, the Scots played some of their best basketball this season right after the tip-off. Macalester built up a 25-5 lead after 14 minutes, holding St. Mary’s to just one out of 22 field goal shooting. The Cardinals tried to work their way back into the game, but when the halftime buzzer sounded, the Scots still held a formidable 11-point lead.

St. Mary’s finally started to convert chances on offense, shooting 50 percent from the field in the second half, but they could never recover from their earlier deficit. The Scots never relinquished their lead after going in front early.

Afton Hanson ’04, the second leading scorer in the MIAC, scored 14 points and added 10 rebounds and five assists against the Cardinals. Forward Emily Koller ’03 also scored 14 points and also grabbed seven rebounds. Center Holly Sciborski ’05 continues to have a very productive first year for the Scots, scoring 10 points and grabbing six rebounds in 23 minutes of play.

Macalester dominated the boards, out-rebounding St. Mary’s by a margin of 40 to 19.

Jaimie Lee led St. Mary’s with 18 points.

Last week, Macalester lost at Gustavus Adolphus, 63-87 on Feb. 6 and at home to Concordia-Moorhead, 91-51.

Against Gustavus, Hanson again led the Scots in scoring, this time with 19. Sciborski scored 16 points in just 25 minutes while Koller also hit double-digits with 10. For Gustavus, Angie Peterson led the way with 21 points while Kelly Etzel scored 18 points and grabbed 11 boards. Laura Haugen scored 15 points in 18 minutes off the bench.

Last Saturday, Hanson led the Scots with 23 points. Sarah Jacoby ’04 played a strong game in the loss, grabbing 10 rebounds and two steals. Mandy Berggren led the Cobbers with 21 points.

The Scots finish the season tomorrow with a 3 p.m. tip-off at Hamline.