The St. Catherine University basketball team hasn't had a start to a season quite like it has this year in five seasons. The 4-1 start is the best under Head Coach Sean Pinkerton's tenure, but the Wildcats had yet to face a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) opponent and knew the first game wasn't going to be easy as they squared off with a Bethel University squad that finished fourth in the conference standings a year ago.

But thanks to a late-game surge of intensity and huge performances from LaShay Holt (Minneapolis, Minn./Humbolt) and Shauna Horsch (Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Simley), the Wildcats upset the Royals 66-62 in the MIAC opener in front of huge home crowd Wednesday evening in the Butler Center in St. Paul.

Holt and Horsch combined for half of the Wildcats' points on the evening and made critical plays late in the game to allow the Wildcats to take its first and final lead of the game with just 27 seconds remaining. Holt recorded her second double-double of the season with a team-best 18 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. She also completed her stat line with three steals, two assists and a block. Horsch was extremely efficient on the night going 5-for-10 from the field and 4-for-4 at the line for her career-best 15 points.

Despite shooting just 28.6 percent in the first half, the Wildcats were able to make a dramatic turnaround in the second half shooting 48.4 percent from the field to just 34.5 percent for the Royals. The Wildcats also went 11-for-14 from the free throw line, while the Royals struggled at 8-of-19. The Wildcats also out-rebounded the talented Bethel lineup 48-34 which was critical to the late Wildcat run to win the game.

After a slow first-half start, the Wildcats found themselves down 36-25 and trailed by as many as 16 with 11:10 to play in the opening half. The Royals continued to maintain their double-digit lead until about the halfway point of the second 20 minutes when the Wildcats began to slowly put the pressure on the Royals and chip away at their lead.

With 6:52 to play, the Wildcats showed they were going to make a game of it when a jumper in the paint from Emily Neumann (Duluth, Minn./Hermantown) pulled the Wildcats within three. Two of the league's most offensive players in Rachel Parupsky and Kalli Zimmermann each made consecutive field goals to help the Royals find some breathing room. From there, Holt and the rest of the Wildcats began to bring the pressure before the sophomore finally buried a layup to give the Wildcats a 63-62 lead with 27 seconds remaining.

The Wildcats then went on the defense and took an unfortunate foul. However, Hannah Niewald missed both attempts for the Royals and a huge defensive rebound from Mary Neumann (Duluth, Minn./Hermantown) allowed the Wildcats to regain offensive possession. Horsch then was fouled and added two free throws to push the lead to 65-62 before Audra Clark (Kenyon, Minn./Kenyon-Wanamingo) added the final point after a last-ditch 3-point attempt was no good for the Royals.

In addition to the strong performances of Holt and Horsch, Mary Neumann came off the bench for eight points and eight rebounds going 3-for-4 from the floor, while Kennedy Jennings (Grimes, Iowa/Dallas Center-Grimes) was huge defensively with a team- and game-high three blocks and three steals. She also had seven rebounds and was 3-for-6 from the field for six points.

Emily Neumann again showed her play-making ability with a game-high six assists. Fellow first-year Clark also had three assists in addition to her seven points and four rebounds.

The Wildcats didn't have an answer for the Royals' Parupsky until late in the game after she had already collected 24 points and three blocks. They did manage to hold the reigning MIAC Athlete-of-the-Week Zimmermann to just 12 points.

With the win, the Wildcats improve to 5-1 overall – surpassing the team's win overall win total from a year ago – and open the MIAC season 1-0 for the second year in a row against a top-four MIAC team. They return to conference action Saturday afternoon in a road game against Gustavus Adolphus College. Game time is slated for 1 p.m. in St. Peter, Minn.,

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