ST. PETER, MINN. – As far as big games go, it might not get any bigger for the St. Catherine University basketball team Wednesday evening when the Wildcats (10-5, 4-4 MIAC) continue Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play against the Gustavus Adolphus College Gusties (15-0, 8-0 MIAC).
St. Kate's and Gustavus are set to tip off in St. Peter, Minnesota at 7 p.m. in Gus Young Court.
Live stats and
video will be available during the game, and score updates will be made on St. Kate's official Twitter page (@stkateswildcats).
Here are the five things to know before tonight's tip off between the Wildcats and Gusties:
22/25 – Gustavus recently broke through the top-25 rankings for both D3hoops.com and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA). The Gusties moved from No. 24 to 22 in this week's D3hoops.com poll and broke through the WBCA top-25 for the first time all season this past week at the No. 25 spot. Gustavus overall record currently sits at 15-0 and the team is 8-0 in MIAC play, meaning the Gusties are one of the last two remaining undefeated teams in the conference.
4 – Four different student-athletes have led St. Kate's in scoring in the month of January.
Audra Clark (Kenyon, Minn. / Kenyon-Wanamingo) was the team's leading scorer against Carleton, while she and first year
Danica Cambrice (Minneapolis, Minn. / St. Croix Lutheran) led the team in scoring with 17 points against Hamline.
LaShay Holt (Minneapolis, Minn. / Humboldt) led the Wildcats in scoring in their loss to Saint Mary's on January 7 and
Kennedy Jennings (Grimes, Iowa / Dallas Center-Grimes) was St. Kate's leading scorer in its most recent game against Bethel.
50 – The Wildcats have outscored their opponents 286-236 in the second quarter of games this season, a 50 point margin. In fact, St. Kate's has outscored its opponents by 90 points combined in the second and third quarters this season.
7 – Seven student-athletes for the Wildcats and Gusties rank in the top-five in the MIAC in several statistical categories. Gustavus' Mikayla Miller (17.6) and Miranda Rice (16.7) rank second and fourth in the MIAC in scoring while Clark (15.5) ranks fifth in the exact same category
2 – Two new faces joined the Wildcat basketball team this past week: sophomore guard
Kanani Asuncion (Rochester, Minn. / Century) and first year guard
Nikki Lucas (Chanhassen, Minn. / Chanhassen). Asuncion transferred to St. Kate's after playing at University of North Dakota for one year, while Lucas played basketball at Northern Michigan University during the first half of the season.