Box Score
Tournament Site
 
Before even playing a game in the 2012-13 season, the St. Catherine University basketball team was faced with challenge of embracing change as the team's first scheduled opponent of the season, Mount Mary College, dropped out of the Alverno Women's College Tipoff Tournament less than 24 hours before the squad was scheduled to head to Milwaukee, Wis.
 
The Wildcats gracefully embraced the scheduling change, but unfortunately came up short in their first on-court test of the season falling 67-45 to Alverno College, Saturday afternoon.
 
In the opening half of the game, the Wildcats kept the game close for the opening five minutes before the Inferno went on a 14-0 run to go up 24-10.
 
The Wildcats would go on a 9-0 run with eight minutes to play in the half and were down by just two with less than five. That is as close as the Wildcats would get though, as the Inferno used a 10-0 run to close out the half 36-24 and never looked back.
 
The Inferno outscored the Wildcats 31-21 in the second half to hand the young Wildcat team its first loss to open the 2012-13 season.
 
Sophomore Jenna Mistler (Austin, Texas) led the Wildcat offense, scoring a team-high 12 points with 50 percent field goal shooting. She also pulled in five defensive rebounds and tallied three assists and a steal.
 
Cynthia Cowan (Elgin, Texas) was just behind Mistler with 11 points and was 3-for-3 from the free throw line. The first-year forward also had a game-high three blocks and added two assists.
 
As a team, the Wildcats were perfect from the free throw line and had 21 defensive rebounds, an area Head Coach Sean Pinkerton hoped to see improvement from last season. The Wildcats also had four total blocks as opposed to none for the Inferno.
 
The Wildcats take on their next challenge as they finish out tournament play tomorrow, taking on Stephens College for a 1 p.m., match up in Milwaukee, Wis.
 
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