ST. BONIFACIUS, MINN. – For the St. Catherine University basketball team, there is no better way to start a busy week than with a win. In a week where the team is scheduled to play three games in the six days, the Wildcats were hoping to start the week with a big-time win over the Crown College Storm. St. Kate's didn't just win the game, it dominated on both ends of the court, defeating Crown 82-58 Monday evening.

The Wildcats entered the game with momentum on their side after earning their first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) game of the year on Saturday. On Monday, St. Kate's wasted no time picking up right where it left off, scoring eight unanswered points to take an 8-0 lead two minutes into the first quarter. In fact, the first 10 minutes may have been the Wildcats best 10 minute stretch of the season. St. Kate's scored 26 points and led throughout the entire quarter.

The Storm, however, were not about to go away without a fight. Crown managed to break through the Wildcats stingy defense in the second quarter and outscored St. Kate's 22 to 14. However, the Storm's sudden offensive surge still wasn't enough to cut into the Wildcats double digit lead, and St. Kate's still held a substantial 42-32 lead at the end of the first half.

Audra Clark (Kenyon, Minn. / Kenyon-Wanamingo) was the team's offensive catalyst in the first half of the game, scoring 12 points after missing just one shot from the field. Kennedy Jennings (Grimes, Iowa / Dallas Center-Grimes) also provided quite the offensive spark with a season high eight points in the first 20 minutes of play.

The second half was extremely similar to the first, as the Wildcats scored 22 points in the third quarter and 19 in the fourth. Clark and Jennings continued to lead the team in scoring in the second half, while first year guard Sam Skwarek (St. Anthony, Minn. / St. Anthony) also got in on the scoring barrage with her best night of the season. Skwarek missed just two shots in the second half, going 3-4 from the floor and 1-2 from beyond the arc, and joined Jennings with seven second half points.

While the offense was busy putting the ball through the hoop, St. Kate's defense was busy putting on a clinic. After allowing 22 points in the second quarter, the Wildcat defense shut down the Storm offense, holding Crown to 38% shooting from the floor and 12% shooting from the three-point line. In total, St. Kate's surrendered just 58 points to the Storm, eventually winning the game by a score of 82-58.

Clark was the team's leading scorer for the third time this season and tied her career high in points with 24. She was also tied for the team lead in rebounds (8) with LaShay Holt (Minneapolis, Minn. / Humboldt) and led the team in assists (4) Monday evening. Jennings tied her career high in points with 15 while Skwarek added nine, thanks to her outstanding shooting in the second half.

With the win, the Wildcats overall record improves to 5-2 and the team now holds a 2-1 record in road games. The win was also St. Kate's second consecutive in three days, after beating St. Olaf College 69-51 on Saturday. The Wildcats will look to make it three wins in a row on Wednesday when they travel to Moorhead, Minnesota to take on MIAC foe Concordia College. The game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.