Coming off an impressive win over Whittier College Friday night, the St. Catherine University basketball team had momentum going into its final tournament game on the west coast. That momentum paid off as the Wildcats used a late-game run to defeat host Occidental College in the final three seconds 54-53 Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles, California. 

The Wildcats couldn't have asked for a better end to their trip after finding themselves down for a majority of the contest and by as many as 13 points early in the third quarter. Strong defense and clutch shooting in the final quarter helped the Wildcats start the season 3-0 for the first time since the 2008-09 season. 

Shauna Horsch (Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Simley) – who took over with a game-high 22 points – gave the Wildcats' their first and largest lead of the game knocking down two points less than a minute into the game. From that point, Occiental slowly built their lead with a five-point advantage after the first quarter. 

At the half, the Wildcats trailed 34-23, but started to pull back into the game in the third quarter outscoing Occidental 15-11. In the final quarter, the Wildcats scored the first basket to cut Occidental's lead to just five. However, the Wildcats found themselves down by eight with just 3:21 remaining in the game. 

Over the final 2:45 of the game, Occidental couldn't find an answer for the Wildcats, though, who went on a 9-0 run and missed just one shot – a free throw. Meg Clark (Kenyon, Minn./Kenyon-Wanamingo) scored on a layup with just three seconds remaining to come up with a thrilling victory. 

Horsch was nothing but impressive Saturday. In addition to her 22 points, the senior was extremely efficient shooting 66.7 percent from the floor. She also went 4-for-6 from beyond the arc and a perfect 2-for-2 from the line. 

Mari Lee (Dawson, Minn./Dawson-Boyd) had her best performance of the early season knocking down 10 points. She pulled in three rebounds and played solid defensively with a game-high four blocks. 

Audra Clark (Kenyon, Minn./Kenyon-Wanamingo) led the team with eight rebounds and also had seven points. The sophomore also collected two assists and a steal. 

Kennedy Jennings (Grimes, Iowa/Dallas Center-Grimes) set up the offense with a game-high five assists. She also had three points, four rebounds, one block and a steal. Meg Clark contibuted across the board with four points, three rebounds, two blocks, a team-high two steals and an assist. 

For Occidental, Grace Baranowski led with 13 points and Mackenzie Bretz had a game-high nine rebounds. 

With the win, the Wildcats improve to 3-0 on the season. They return to action Tuesday for a non-conference matchup Tuesday against North Central University (Minn.) at 7 p.m. in the Butler Center. 

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