The St. Kate’s basketball team lost a close overtime game 84-77 to St. Benedict Wednesday night at Butler Center.
The Wildcats and Blazers traded the lead for the first ten minutes of the game. Then, with just under ten minutes remaining until halftime and St. Kate’s up by one, Quinn Halverson hit one of her four three-pointers. After Jenna Olson stole the ball and quickly converted it into a layup, the Wildcats were up by six.
Over the next 9 minutes St. Benedict battled back, cutting the Wildcats lead to 31-29. Laura Kalbfell ensured St. Kate’s would take a halftime lead, nailing a jumper as the buzzer sounded to make it 33-29 at the half.
In the second half, there was plenty of back-and-forth action. St. Kate’s was down by five with 3:30 left in the game. That’s when Kalbfell made a layup and Sonja Ellingson and Megan Zillmer each made a pair of free throws to put the Wildcats up 66-65 with 1:38 to play.
After the Blazers scored, grabbing the 67-66 lead, SCU responded with more clutch free throw shooting by Ellingson and Olson. The duo put the Wildcats up 70-67 with 12 seconds remaining.
Unfortunately for Wildcats fans, on the last possession of the game, St. Benedict made a three-pointer as time expired to force overtime.
Overtime did not go the Wildcats’ way. The Blazers jumped ahead by five early, and never gave up the lead. St. Kate’s was then forced to foul down the stretch, and St. Benedict made their free throws to take the 84-77 win.
Halverson closed the game with 14 points, shooting 4-6 from three-point range. Kalbfell led the Wildcats with 18 points and Olson had 17 points, going 3-4 from beyond the arch.
The loss drops the Wildcats to 6-8 in the MIAC, 7-10 overall.
St. Kate’s travels to play Gustavus on Saturday, January 30th. They return home to host Bethel on Monday, February 1st at 7:30 pm at Butler Center.
Stats for the St. Kate's vs. St. Ben's basketball game are
available here.