Box Score After opening the 2013-14 season with two losses to talented teams in California last week, the St. Catherine University basketball team hoped to pick up a win in its home opener against Crown College before heading into the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) season following the holiday. Fortunately for the Wildcats, they received huge performancesoff the bench and a record-tying rebound outing to hand Crown a 76-50 loss Thursday evening in the Butler Center.

After a slow second half where the Wildcats found themselves up just 31-23, the Wildcats rebounded with a smoother second half performance that saw 51.6 percent shooting from the floor to help the team pick up its first victory of the year on home court. The Wildcats also tied the program record for most rebounds in a single game with 51 which was previously set on Feb. 11, 2011 against Augsburg College. 

The Wildcats also managed to take advantage the Storm's 29 turnovers to score 27 of their team points, while the bench accounted for 46 of the team's total scoring. 

LaShay Holt (Minneapolis, Minn.) came off the bench to record her first collegiate double-double with a game-high 17 points and 11 rebounds. The first-year was 6-of-11 from the floor and recorded a game-high five steals. She is now second on the team in scoring with 11.7 points per game. 

Liz Ellens (Sauk Centre, Minn.) also came off the bench to score 13 points, while starter Sarah Manning (Page, Ariz.) was 6-of-9 from the floor for a season-best 14 points. Manning was also a perfect 2-for-2 in free throws. Ellens also pulled in four points at the charity stripe. 
 
Gabby Zehrer (Rogers, Minn.) – who was named to the all-tournament team last weekend at UC-Santa Cruz – also had another strong performance for the Wildcats as she went 50 percent from the field for 11 points in just 15 minutes played. She also was critical from behind the line as she went 7-for-8. The sophomore currently leads the Wildcats in scoring with 12.3 points per game. 

Shauna Horsch (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) also made an impact off the bench with eight points and six rebounds, while Jenna Mistler (Austin, Texas) was a perfect 100 percent from the field and also pulled in six rebounds. 

Kristen Lee (Dawson, Minn.) and Mari Lee (Dawson, Minn.) also contributed to the Wildcats record-tying rebound performance with six and seven, respectively. 

Leading the way for the Storm was Da'Neisha Patterson with 16 points, seven rebounds and three steals. Katie Hinkle also broke double-digits with 10 points.
 
The Wildcats return to action in MIAC play against the College of Saint Benedict on Wednesday, Dec. 4, in St. Joseph, Minn. 

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