Box Score The St. Catherine University basketball team returned home and hoped it could pull off a win against a Saint mary's University squad that boasted a 7-1 record prior to Wednesday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) matchup. Despite a strong first half shooting, the Wildcats couldn't find a way to slow down the Cardinals in the second half falling 77-47 Wednesday evening at the
Butler Center in St. Paul.
After the Cardinals jumped out to an early 10-0 lead, the Wildcats went on a 18-4 run to take a four-point lead with 10:51 to go in the first half. The Cardinals regained the lead before the Wildcats again made another push to go up 26-24 with 6:11 remaining in the first.
The Cardinals stormed back with a 10-4 run to close out the first half 36-30 over the Wildcats who shot 33.3 percent from three-point range. However, the Wildcats couldn't match their first half shooting as they went just 7-of-27 in the second half and allowed the Cardinals to shoot 58.6 percent in the final 20 en route to their fifth MIAC win of the year.
Despite the loss,
LaShay Holt (Minneapolis, Minn.) had a career-best shooting performance with 18 points to lead the Wildcats. The first-year also had a team-high three steals and pulled in five rebounds. Holt is now averaging 10.6 points per game and 6.3 rebounds per game to lead the team.
Fellow first-year
Mari Lee (Dawson, Minn.) also had a career-best night as she went 3-for-5 for six points while also adding two rebounds and a steal. Big sister
Kristen Lee (Dawson, Minn.) also had a strong night with 50 percent shooting from the field for five points. The senior captain also had two steals.
Liz Ellens (Sauk Centre, Minn.) and
Sarah Manning (Page, Ariz.) each added four points, while Manning added four rebounds and two assists .
Kennedy Jennings (Des Moines, Iowa) led the rebounding effort with a team-best six.
The Cardinals were led by Shelby Auseth with a game-high 19 points in just 14 minutes played, while Bridget Pethke had 13 points and a game-high five steals.
With the loss, the Wildcats fall to 2-7 on the season and 1-5 in MIAC play. They return to action Saturday at Concordia College for a 3 p.m. matchup in Moorhead, Minn.
Wildcat Basketball on Facebook
Wildcats on Twitter
Wildcats on Facebook
