The Yellowjacket women's basketball team saw their first action of the year last week, coming up short in a thrilling exhibition game against Division II Concordia-St. Paul. On Friday night, they opened the season for real, kicking off the follow-up campaign to the most successful season in school history at the College of St. Benedict Classic in St. Joseph, Minn.

The Blaze, who were coming off of a successful season of their own, proved to be the better team on this night, outshooting the Yellowjackets for the game and pulling away down the stretch on their way to a 65-53 win on their home court.

Sally Linzmeier (Valders, Wis./Valders) paced the Yellowjackets with a team-high 18 points, and also chipped in 13 rebounds. On the other side, St. Benedict's Brianna Barrett led the Blaze with 18 points.

The Yellowjackets opened up an early 8-3 lead when Linzmeier scored four straight points. The lead was never larger than five, but the Yellowjackets had the edge until the 10:31 mark of the first half when a pair of Emily Lueck free throws put the Blaze up 13-12. Less than a minute later Hadley Skalmoski (Neenah, Wis./Neenah) hit a jumper to put the Yellowjackets back in front. They stretched the lead back to four, but the Blaze again came back and knotted the game at 21-21.

In the final minute of the first half the Blaze took just their second lead of the night on a jumper by Lueck. The Yellowjackets missed a pair of shots in the waning seconds and went to the locker room, trailing by two at 27-25 at the half.

Skalmoski started the second half with a rebound and a jumper that evened the score. A Barrett layup put the Blaze back in front and fuelled the offense as it began to pull away from the Yellowjackets.

A 9-2 run gave the Blaze a 38-29 edge with 14:56 to play. The lead ran to as many as ten points, but the Yellowjackets clawed their way back into the game. Linzmeier sunk a pair of free throws to shave the deficit to four, 45-41, with 5:58 remaining in the half.

That is as close as the Yellowjackets would get.

St. Benedict went on a 14-7 run over a four-minute span to pull away. The lead hit a high of 14 points, 62-48, before the Yellowjackets closed the gap in the final minute, outscoring the Blaze 5-3.

Vanessa Lebens (Roseville, Minn./Roseville Area) was the only Yellowjacket beside Linzmeier to score in double figures, dropping in 10 points. Lebens also pulled down seven rebounds, as did Skalmoski. Deandra Vavra (Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) led the Yellowjackets with two assists. Linzmeier, Lebens and Grace Kennedy (Wausau, Wis./Newman Catholic) had blocks for the Yellowjackets, while Linzmeier led the team with six steals. Brynn Liljander (Isanti, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) added four steals.

Morgan Dale and Tish Alexander each added ten points for St. Benedict.

The Yellowjackets (0-1, 0-0 WIAC) will have a quick turnaround as they take on Macalester College on Saturday in their second game of the St. Benedict Tournament. Game time is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.