St. Thomas claimed its fifth win in a row, scoring 46 points in the paint to beat Macalester 68-45 at the Leonard Center. The Tommies improve to 5-1 on the season and 3-0 in league play, while the Scots drop to 2-5 on the season, 0-3 in the MIAC.

The Scots hung tough for a while against the defending conference champs, trailing 20-18 before St. Thomas closed out the first half on a 12-1 run to take a 32-21 lead in the halftime break. UST tallied the first nine points of the second half and were never in danger after that.

Maggie Wood (Sr., Oregon, Wis. / Madison Edgewood) just missed out on a double-double for the Scots, contributing nine points and 10 rebounds. Emma Leyden (So., Berkeley, Calif. / Head-Royce), Holly Schiedermayer (Sr., Waupaca, Wis.) and Taylor Pike (So., Ashland, Neb. / Ashland-Greenwood)each added seven points.

Maggie Weiers had a game-high 22 points to pace the Tommies, who shot 50% and helped limit Macalester to 27% shooting. Ali Johnson and Haley Loesch

Each scored 10 points.

The Scots play their final game before the holiday break when they host St. Catherine next Tuesday (Dec. 13) at 7:30 p.m.