ST. PAUL, MINN. – In terms of a "homecoming", the St. Catherine University basketball team could not have scripted a better scene.

After opening the season with three consecutive games on the road, St. Kate's was ready to return to St. Paul, Minnesota and the comforts of the Butler Center Gymnasium for its home opener against the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Thanks to fantastic defensive play at the end of the game, it was exactly the type of homecoming the Wildcats were looking for as they defeated the visiting Blue Devils 82-74 in their first game at home.

A win certainly did not look guaranteed after the first quarter of play. St. Kate's trailed UW-Stout 23-19 after the first 10 minutes of play after falling behind 12-0 in the early minutes of the game. However, after the first four minutes, the Wildcats settled down both offensively and defensively and slowly chipped away at the Blue Devils lead. First, senior forward Mari Lee (Dawson, Minn. / Dawson-Boyd) hit a three to score St. Kate's first points of the game and UW-Stout's carefully built margin slowly started to shrink.A steal and layup by senior LaShay Holt (Minneapolis, Minn. / Humboldt) cut the lead to 19-7, and although the Blue Devils still held a double-digit lead, it felt as though the momentum had swung in the Wildcats direction.

Holt had a hand in seven of the next 12 points for St. Kate's, cutting UW-Stout's lead to 23-19 at the end of the first quarter. Although she wasn't in the game to start the second quarter, her hot hand had a positive impact on her teammates. The Wildcats outscored the Blue Devils 17-10 in the quarter and closed out the half with a 36-33 lead over the visitors.

After the offensive surge to end the first half, St. Kate's continued to play well on both sides of the court in the third. Defensively, the team held UW-Stout to 41% shooting from the field in the second half and 14.3% from beyond the arc. The Wildcats also forced 10 Blue Devil turnovers and scored on over half of those extra opportunities, extending their lead to 59-48 at the end of the quarter.

The fourth started similarly to the third, with St. Kate's firing both offensively and defensively. However, as time wore on, UW-Stout eventually started to gain ground on the Wildcats lead and it wasn't long before multiple St. Kate's players found themselves in foul trouble. With five minutes remaining in the game, the Wildcats lead was just 68-60 over the Blue Devils, who suddenly could not miss on their end of the court.

However, whenever UW-Stout cut into the lead, St. Kate's was there with an answer on offense. Holt connected with Alexis Garcia (Minnetonka, Minn. / Hopkins) to extend the lead to 75-64, but that cushion almost wasn't enough. The Blue Devils scored five unanswered points, cutting the Wildcats lead back down to six points. However, Audra Clark (Kenyon, Minn. / Kenyon-Wanamingo) and Lee both sunk two key free throws to cement the 82-74 victory for St. Kate's.

Four Wildcats scored in double-digits in the win over the Blue Devils, including the four seniors. Garcia led the team with 18 points in the effort while Holt and Lee added 17 and 15 points respectively. Clark was the team's leading rebounder with six total and Kennedy Jennings (Grimes, Iowa / Dallas Center-Grimes) had one of her best games of the season as well with 12 total points and five rebounds.

With the win, St. Kate's improved to 3-1 on the year and brings a two-game win streak into Wednesday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) opener against the College of Saint Benedict. The game will take place in St. Joseph, Minnesota at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, November 30.