Coming off its first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) win of the season Wednesday, the St. Catherine University basketball team hoped it could keep rolling but knew a huge challenge was ahead facing an undefeated No. 6 nationally-ranked University of St. Thomas squad. Well, that challenge wasn't too great for the Wildcats as they managed to pull off a major upset of the Tommies thanks to solid shooting and all-around play throughout the game with a 67-63 decision Saturday afternoon in the
Butler Center.
The Wildcats' victory was the first for the program since the 2010-11 season and helped the squad improve to 2-2 in the MIAC and 7-2 overall this season. The win also ended the Tommies' 28-game winning streak against MIAC opponents.
As a team, the Wildcats shot 50 percent from beyond the arc – their highest total so far this season – and an impressive 42.3 percent from the field which is the first time in a MIAC game this season the Wildcats shot above 40 percent. The Wildcats' 67 points are also the most the Tommies have allowed to a MIAC team this season and the second-highest in overall games.
Heading into the game, the Tommies were shooting over 36 percent from beyond the arc. Saturday, the Wildcats held the Tommies to just 24 percent from deep. They also took advantage of the Tommies' 16 turnovers scoring 24 points on opponent giveaways. The Wildcats also held a slight 13-11 advantage in second-chance points.
The game started off at a fast pace with the Tommies getting one of five 3-pointers on the day from senior Katie Stone in the first 11 seconds. The Wildcats proved they were going to show up to play, though, as
Shauna Horsch (Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Simley) matched Stone with her first of three 3-pointers in the game 32 seconds later. The Wildcats took a slight lead early, but the Tommies hung around before taking a 16-12 lead with 16 seconds remaining. That four point lead was the largest of the game for the Tommies and was cut to 16-14 at the end of the opening 10 minutes on a last-second second-chance bucket from
LaShay Holt (Minneapolis, Minn./Humboldt).
In the second quarter, the two teams exchanged leads five times and tied the score twice including a 31-31 even split at the end of the half. In the third quarter, the momentum and the crowd was on the side of the Wildcats as they quickly built a five-point lead on back-to-back shots from
Audra Clark (Kenyon, Minn./Kenyon-Wanamingo) and
Meg Clark (Kenyon, Minn./Kenyon-Wanamingo). The Tommies pulled within one at 36-35 before managing to tie the score at 39-39 with 6:45 remaining.
The Wildcats closed the quarter with a 13-4 run to take a 52-43 lead heading into the final quarter of play. Alexis Christianson (Fairmont, Minn./Fairmont) got the Wildcats on the board first in the fourth to push the lead to 11. Another quick basket from Holt gave the team a 13-point lead – the largest of the game for the Wildcats
– with 9:05 to play.
Over the next three minutes, the Tommies went on a 11-0 run to make it 56-54. The Wildcats would push their lead to six points twice more with just 1:27 remaining. The Tommies got a layup with 43 seconds remaining and made a free throw with 36 left to pull within two again. A huge offensive board from
Kennedy Jennings (Grimes, Iowa/Dallas Center-Grimes) with five seconds remaining allowed
Audra Clark to sink two more free throws to complete the upset.
Holt led the Wildcats on the night matching her season-high 22 points and pulling in a team-high eight rebounds. She was 5-of-6 from the charity stripe and set up her teammates offensively with three assists on the day.
Audra Clark was extremely efficient for the Wildcats shooting 5-of-7 from the field and sinking both of her 3-point opportunities and free throws for 14 points. She also collected three rebounds, one assist and a steal. Horsch also played a big factor early making three buckets from beyond the arc in the first half alone. The senior finished with 13 points, a game-high four steals, three rebounds and a block.
Meg Clark went 3-of-6 from the floor for nine points. She also had two rebounds and two steals, while
Mari Lee (Dawson, Minn./Dawson-Boyd was good for five points and a game-high four assists and Jennings pulled in five rebounds.
For the Tommies, the league's leading scorer Kaitlyn Langer drilled in a game-high 23 points and 14 rebounds in a double-double effort. Stone finished with 17 points, while Gabby Zehrer had 10 points.
The Wildcats will conclude the remainder of 2015 with a non-conference game against the University of Northwestern-St. Paul next Saturday before the holiday break. Game time is set for 1 p.m. in Roseville, Minnesota.
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