ST. PETER, MINN. – After a thrilling win over Concordia College on Wednesday, the St. Catherine University basketball team will have its hands full Saturday afternoon when the Wildcats take on the Gustavus Adolphus College Gusties at 3 p.m. in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play.
Live stats will be available for fans who can't make the trek to St. Peter, Minnesota and score updates will be made on St. Kate's official Twitter page (@stkateswildcats).
Here are the five facts to know before Saturday's 3 p.m. tip off:
12.3 – Wildcat first years
Morgan Kurth (Hutchinson, Minn. / Hutchinson),
Ashley Fosness (Britton, S.D. / Britton-Hecla) and
Bailee Sillman (Chippewa Falls, Wis. / Chippewa Falls) averaged 12.3 points in St. Kate's 61-58 win over Concordia on Wednesday. Kurth led the way with a team leading 15 points, while Fosness and Sillman added 12 and 10 respective. All three tallied career-highs.
25 – Gustavus has spent most of the season ranked in both the d3hoops and WBCA polls. However, the Gusties fell out of d3hoops top-25 poll this past week after a two-point loss to Bethel last Wednesday. However, Gustavus was still in the top 25 in the WBCA poll, falling five spots to the No. 25 ranking. \
1st – Saturday will be the first of two meetings between the Wildcats and Gusties this season. In addition to Saturday's 3 p.m. tip off in St. Peter, the two teams will face off a second time on February 17 in St. Paul, Minnesota in the final game of the regular season.
7 – Last year, the Wildcats pushed then No. 11 Gustavus to the brink in St. Peter, but the Gusties came out on top 83-76. Former standout LaShay Holt (Minneapolis, Minn. / Humboldt) poured in a season-high 29 points in the loss and shot 55% from the floor, while current senior
Audra Clark (Kenyon, Minn. / Kenyon-Wanamingo) added 23 points of her own.
16.8 – If St. Kate's plans to win Saturday, the team will have to stop Gustavus' top scorers: Miranda Rice and Mikayla Miller. The two Gusties currently rank third and fourth in the MIAC in points/game and also rank in the top-10 in shooting percentage. So far this season, Rice is averaging 16.8 points per game on 54% shooting, while Miller is averaging 15.7 points per game on 44% shooting.
