Box Score The present ... and the future ... was on display Wednesday night at Hutton Arena for the Hamline women's basketball team. 

Both of them looked pretty good.

The Pipers dropped a 85-68 decision to a hot shooting St. Benedict's team. But the present -- in the form of Jordan Sammons, the country's No. 2 women's D-III scorer and resident ballhawk -- and freshman center Alex Peterson shone brightly on this chilly night. 

Sammons had another double-double, scoring 25 points and snatching 13 rebounds. She also had five steals to maintain her MIAC lead and status as No. 2 in all of Division III with an average of 24.9 points and 4.8 steals per game. Already the school  career leader in steals with 264, she also has 1,577 career points -- 79 shy of the all-time mark held by Mary Wilkowski (2007-11). 

She shared equal billing with Peterson (pictured-dark jersey), the freshman from St. Paul matched her career high with 16 points and also added six boards. Those numbers are even more impressive when you consider Peterson only played 22 minutes due to foul trouble. (She was one of two Pipers to foul out. Two others received four fouls.)

Unfortunately, the Blazers lived up to their nickname, shooting nearly 58 per cent from the field in jumping to a 46-27 halftime edge and finishing the night an even 50 per cent at 30-60. HU, which had shot at 50 per cent or better for three games in a row, wasn't quite as sharp, going 26-69 for 37.7 per cent markmanship. 

St. Ben's bolted to a 14-5 lead only top see the Pipers tear back to gain an 22-21 edge with 8:29 left in the first half. The Blazers, however, went on another run to head into the locker roomm with the lead. 

In the second half, HU crept back into the game, whittling the margin to 10 at 70-60 with 6:06 left. That was as close as they could get, however. The Blazers made the necessary free throws down the stretch to drop the Pipers to 2-3 in the MIAC, 7-5 overall.

Hamline returns to action Saturday when they travel to St. Olaf (5-7, 2-3 MIAC), a 66-65 winner over St. Mary's tonight. Game time is 1:00 p.m.