ST. PAUL, MINN. – Christmas came just a little bit early for the St. Catherine University basketball team. Rather than wait to open gifts on December 25, the Wildcats gave themselves the best present they could receive in Wednesday evening's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) contest against Macalester College. St. Kate's snapped its three-game losing streak and earned its first conference win of the season thanks to a 72-67 victory over the Scots and a historic performance from sophomore forward Danica Cambrice (St. Paul, Minn. / St. Croix Lutheran).
Cambrice made history in more ways than one Wednesday evening, as she scored 30 points and pulled in 14 rebounds. Her 30 point performance is tied for fifth all-time for single-game scoring in program history and is the most points scored in a game by any St. Kate's player since former guard LaShay Holt (Minneapolis, Minn. / Humboldt) scored 32 points against St. Olaf in February 2016. Cambrice also tied the school record for field goals made in a single game (13) and accounted for nearly 42% of the Wildcats offense Wednesday night.
In fact, it was Cambrice who got things started for St. Kate's, as she scored a layup 50 seconds in to give the Wildcats the early 2-0 lead. Unfortunately, St. Kate's struggled offensively after Cambrice's opening layup, eventually trailing Macalester 19-12 at the end of the first quarter. The Wildcats just had no answer for the Scots three-point shooting and committed several fouls late in the first 10 minutes of play. In fact, Macalester led by as many as 10 points with under two minutes in the quarter thanks to strong free throw shooting more than anything.
However, St. Kate's went on a hot streak, scoring four unanswered points in the final minute to cut the Scots lead to 19-12. Morgan Kurth (Hutchinson, Minn. / Hutchinson) jump started the offense with a jumper at 0:56 before Meg Clark (Kenyon, Minn. / Kenyon-Wanamingo) drained two free throws with one second remaining to give the Wildcats some momentum heading into the second quarter.
Although Macalester opened the second quarter with a three-pointer by Leah Grey, St. Kate's had an answer to stay within eight of the Scots 22-14 lead. Cambrice and Alexis Garcia (Minnetonka, Minn. / Hopkins) scored nine straight points for the Wildcats, cutting Macalester's lead to 24-21 midway through the quarter. The Scots eventually managed to make another basket, but Cambrice and Bailee Sillman (Chippewa Falls, Wis. / Chippewa Falls) whittled their lead to 26-25 with back-to-back layups.
St. Kate's eventually took a 27-26 lead thanks to two made free throws from Ashley Fosness (Britton, S.D. / Britton-Hecla). The free throws, though, where the last two points the Wildcats would score for the remainder of the half, as Macalester scored seven unanswered points to take a 33-27 lead with 33 seconds remaining in the half. Cambrice, though, swung the momentum back in St. Kate's favor, scoring two layups in the final 30 seconds to cut the Scots lead to 33-29 at halftime.
This were clicking for the Wildcats early in the second half, as they opened the third quarter with an 8-2 scoring run to take a 39-35 lead over the Macalester. St. Kate's eventually managed to extend its lead to 47-40 thanks to another scoring binge from Cambrice and strong free throw shooting by Clark and Jaelyn Miltz (Monticello, Minn. / Monticello). However, the Wildcats and Scots both failed to score in the remaining two minutes of the quarter, resulting in a 47-40 St. Kate's lead entering the final 10 minutes of play.
The Wildcats managed to hold on to their lead in the fourth but things got a little dicey in the final minute of play. After leading by as many as 13 points in the final quarter, St. Kate's hit a bit of a rough patch scoring wise in the final five minutes of the quarter and watched as its lead slowly dwindled away. With just under three minutes remaining, the Scots had cut the Wildcats lead to 61-57 but Garcia managed to extend the lead to 63-57 by making two key free throws.
St. Kate's was unable to shake Macalester in the final two minutes despite taking a 69-60 lead with 37 seconds remaining in regulation. Jackie Radford (St. Paul, Minn. / Cretin Derham-Hall) was called for a foul with 16 seconds remaining, and Fruh drained two free throws to cut the Wildcats lead to 69-60. The Scots were forced to foul, and Clark and Garcia certainly didn't waste their shots, draining three of four free throws to give St. Kate's a comfortable eight point lead with two seconds remaining. While Macalester did manage to make a three in the final second, the damage was already done, as the Wildcats eked out the 72-67 victory for their first conference win of the season.
Cambrice set a new career-high thanks to her historic 30-point night and carded her third double-double of the season with 11 rebounds. Radford, though, led the team in rebounds for the third straight game, having pulled in 14 in a team-leading 34 minutes of play.
With the win, St. Kate's overall record improved to 4-5 and the team is now 1-3 in MIAC play. The Wildcats will return to the court on Saturday as they host the University of Wisconsin-River Falls at 3 p.m. It will be St. Kate's final game before the holiday break.
