ASHLAND, WIS. – The St. Catherine University basketball team could not have asked for a better way to end the first month of the season. With just one game remaining before the start of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play, the Wildcats were hoping to shake off the last of the early season rust in Tuesday evening's game against Northland. That is exactly what St. Kate's did, as the team cruised to a 66-41 victory over the Lumber Jills.

 The Wildcats wasted no time jumping ahead on the scoreboard, as they lead 5-2 under a minute into the game. Meg Clark (Kenyon, Minn. / Kenyon-Wanamingo) and Alexis Garcia (Minnetonka, Minn. / Hopkins) set the tone early for St. Kate's, as they scored the first two baskets of the game to ignite the high powered offense. The Wildcats then followed with a seven-point scoring run and held a 19-7 at the end of the first quarter.

The scoring continued in the second quarter, as Audra Clark (Kenyon, Minn. / Kenyon-Wanamingo) scored seven of the Wildcats 15 second quarter points, accounting for nearly half of the team's offense in that quarter alone. St. Kate's defense was also on fire in the first 20 minutes of play, forcing multiple Northland turnovers to hold the Lumber Jills to just 21 first half points.

Thanks to a 34-21 lead at halftime, the Wildcats were able to keep things rolling in the third and fourth quarters, as they scored a combined 32 points to finish with 66 total. Seventeen of those 32 points were scored in the fourth quarter alone, making it the second-highest scoring quarter of the game for St. Kate's. The Wildcats also continued to play extremely impressive defense in the final 20 minutes of regulations, holding Northland to just 20 second half points to take the game by a final score of 66-41.

Audra Clark was the team's leading scorer for the third time this season, as she scored 16 points in 28 minutes of work. Garcia finished the game with a season high 12 pints, while Jackie Radford (St. Paul, Minn. / Cretin-Derham Hall) finished the game with 11 points. Clark, Radford, Garcia and Brooke Torvik (Rice, Minn. / Sauk-Rapids Rice) all had five rebounds in the game.

With the win, St. Kate's overall record improves to 3-2. The Wildcats will open MIAC play on Saturday when they host Carleton College at 3 p.m. in the Butler Center Gym.