ARDEN HILLS, MINN. – The regular season is coming to an end for the St. Catherine University basketball team. The Wildcats will face Bethel University at 3 p.m. Saturday in their final game of the regular season before Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) playoffs start next Wednesday.
Both St. Kate's and Bethel are playoff bound, having locked up spots in the conference tournament on Wednesday. The Royals, with their 2-4 overall record and 15-2 mark in conference play, will be the No. 3 seed in the six-team tournament, while the Wildcats will be the No. 5 seed.
However, Saturday's game has to be played before Wednesday.
Live stats and
video will be available for fans who can't make the 3 p.m. tip off in Arden Hills, Minnesota. Score updates will also be made on St. Kate's officially Twitter account (@stkateswildcats).
Here are the five facts to know before tip off between the Wildcats and Royals:
29 – The last time these two teams met, St. Kate's suffered one of its worst losses of the season. Bethel defeated the Wildcats by a score of 84-57. Since then, St. Kate's has posted a 5-4 record, with all four of those losses coming against the top teams in the MIAC.
20 –
Kennedy Jennings (Grimes, Iowa / Dallas Center-Grimes) was the team's leading scorer in the earlier loss to Bethel, with 20 points and five rebounds.
Audra Clark (Kenyon, Minn. / Kenyon-Wanamingo) added 16 points in the loss.
15.3 – Currently, senior guard
LaShay Holt (Minneapolis, Minn. / Humboldt) ranks No.5 in the MIAC in scoring, after her 24 point performance against Gustavus on Wednesday. Holt is currently averaging 16.1 points against conference opponents, the third-highest average in the MIAC, and also ranks second with 180 defensive rebounds.
5 – This season, the Wildcats rank in the top-5 in the MIAC in five offensive categories. They currently rank fourth in field goals made per game (25.4), field goal attempts per game (59.2) and field goal percentage (42.9). St. Kate's also ranks fifth in overall points (1647) and points per game average (68.6).
1st – Bethel currently leads both the MIAC and the nation in three-point shooting percentage. The Royals are shooting 39.4% from beyond the arc overall and hold a 40.3% 3-point percentage against conference opponents.