PORTLAND, ORE. – The St. Catherine University basketball team could not have asked for a better start to the 2017-18 season with its 69-51 win over the University of Northwestern-St. Paul on Wednesday. Unfortunately, the Wildcats hit a bit of a speed bump on Saturday, as they fell to Lewis and Clark College by a score of 79-69 in their opening game of the Lewis and Clark Tip Off Tournament.

It was an extremely close game between St. Kate's and Lewis and Clark, as neither team led by more than five points through the first half of the game. However, the Wildcats did hold a 14-13 lead at the end of the first quarter thanks to a three-pointer from senior forward Alexis Garcia (Minnetonka, Minn. / Hopkins). That three-pointer seemed to spark St. Kate's offense at the start of the second quarter. Danica Cambrice (St. Paul, Minn. / St. Croix Lutheran) started things off with back-to-back steals, while Audra Clark (Kenyon, Minn. / Kenyon-Wanamingo) sunk two early free throws to give the Wildcats a 17-13 lead less than a minute in.

The Pios, though, kept things close and tied St. Kate's twice before taking a 23-21 lead at the seven minute mark. The Wildcats still kept things close, and the two teams continued to trade the lead in the remaining three minutes of play. In those final three minutes alone, there were three separate lead changed between St. Kate's and Lewis and Clark, resulting in a deadlocked 30-30 tie with 32 seconds remaining before half time.

The Pios managed to score three points with under 20 seconds remaining to hold a 33-30 advantage over the Wildcats at the half. Like it had been all game, St. Kate's hoped to erase the deficit all together and take an early lead in the third quarter. Sadly, that was not what happened in the second half Saturday afternoon, as the Wildcats missed shots early and committed costly turnovers, resulting in a 49-35 lead for Lewis and Clark midway through the third quarter.

St. Kate's, though, showed resiliency and eventually whittled the Pios lead to just five points with four minutes remaining in the third. Cambrice, Clark and Brooke Torvik (Rive, Minn. / Sauk Rapids-Rice) all had a hand in the scoring run as the Wildcats scored nine unanswered points, cutting Lewis and Clark's lead to 49-44.

While the Pios extended their lead back to 10 points, St. Kate's continued to chip away and trailed by just four points entering the fourth and final quarter. The Wildcats never could quite catch Lewis and Clark, though, despite their best attempts, resulting in a 79-69 nonconference loss.

Clark continued her hot start to the season, as she scored a team-leading 25 points in the game, making her second 20+performance of the weekend. Cambrice added 18 points, while Garcia scored in double digits with 10 points for St. Kate's. Jackie Radford (St. Paul, Minn. / Cretin-Derham Hall) was the team's top rebounder with seven total.

With the loss, the Wildcats overall record falls to 1-1 this season. St. Kate's will return to action Sunday, when it takes on Linfield College at 2 p.m. PST.