In the previous two seasons, three of the St. Catherine University basketball team's four Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) victories came against Macalester College including a season sweep in 2013-14. Facing off against a struggling Scots squad, the Wildcats hoped to end a four-game losing streak and collect their first win of the new year in front of a home crowd. Despite being down at the half, the Wildcats rallied for a strong all-around performance in the final 20 minutes for their first win of 2015 with a 74-59 decision over the Scots, Saturday afternoon in the Butler Center. 

The Wildcats' win Saturday is the seventh of the season and most in a single season following the program's post-season run in 2009-10. That year, the Wildcats finished 12-15 overall and became the first No. 6 seed to win a MIAC playoff game. The seven wins also surpasses the total number of wins over the last two seasons since Sean Pinkerton took over as head coach. 

Individually, the highlight of the day came from junior Shauna Horsch (Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Simley) who scored a career-high 24 points that demolished her previous-best single-game performance of 15 points in the win over bethel University earlier this year. Not only did she lead the team in scoring, she shot lights out from beyond the arc going 5-of-9. Horsch's five-made 3-pointers ties a single-game program record set by Mary Neumann (Duluth, Minn./Hermantown) in the Wildcats' 84-82 overtime victory against the Scots on Jan. 21, 2013. Horsch finished the game with thre boards, four steals and an assist. 

The game opened up with back-and-forth play between the two teams before the Scots eventually took a six-point lead with 10:19 to play in the first half. The Wildcats managed to make it close but found themselves down 38-37 at halftime after allowing the Scots to shoot 50 percent fromt he field and out-rebound them 21-14. 

It took the Wildcats a bit of time in the second half to build a lead before they went on a 12-2 run over a four-minute time span to take a 10-point lead with less than 10 minutes to play. Eventually the Wildcats pushed their lead to as many as 19 points before finally pulling away for their second conference win of the season to end a four-game losing streak. 

LaShay Holt (MInneapolis, Minn./Humboldt) was again an integral part of the wildcat success posting her seventh doubdle-double of the season, 10th of her career and second in a row. The sophomore tallied 12 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. She also had a game-high five assists and five steals to help set up the WIldcats for offensive and defensive success. 

Mari Lee (Dawson, Minn./Dawson-Boyd) was back on track against the Scots foing 6-of-8 from the field for 13 points. She also had a career-high four assists and added four rebounds and a block to compelte her stat line. Audra Clark (Kenyon, Minn./Kenyon-Wanamingo) was good four 10 points and led the team at the free throw line going 4-of-5. She also had five rebounds, five assists and a block. 

Neumann came off the bench for her second-best scoring game of the season with 10 points thanks to her two-made 3-pointers that helped the Wildcats finish with 33.3 percent from beyond the arc and 41.2 percent shooting from the field. Meg Clark (Kenyon, Minn./Kenyon-Wanamingo) also contirbuted with five poitns, six rebounds and two steals. 

With the win, the Wildcats improve to 7-6 overall and 2-4 in the MIAC. They return to conference play Wednesday against undefeated No. 5 University of St. Thomas. Tip off is scheudled for 7 p.m. in the Butler Center. 

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