ST. PAUL, MINN. – Rematches in college basketball are usually exciting affairs, with one team playing to avenge an earlier season loss. The other team is playing for the pristine 2-0 record against its opponent. On Wednesday, the St. Catherine University basketball team was the latter, going for its second Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) win of the season against the Macalester Scots. Unfortunately, the Wildcats were unable to come away with a second victory against the Scots, falling at home by a final score of 61-46.
St. Kate's shot just 30% from the floor in the loss, but free throws killed the Wildcats in the end. The team was just 3-13 from the charity stripe in the game, including a 1-6 mark in the first half. However, St. Kate's trailed by just nine points in the first half, thanks to a nine point performance from first year forward Morgan Kurth (Hutchinson, Minn. / Hutchinson). Kurth shot 3-5 from the floor in the first half, including a 2-4 mark from beyond the arc. Kurth was the one Wildcat to make a free throw in the first half but was 1-4 from the line.
St. Kate's tried to mount a comeback in the second half, but the team had no answer for Macalester's senior center Regan Fruh. Fruh scored a game high 23 points and pulled in 14 rebounds to lead the Scots both offensively and defensively. Alexis Garcia (Minnetonka, Minn. / Hopkins) was the Wildcats primary offensive threat in the second half, as she scored seven of her team-leading 13 points in the final two quarters of play.
Several nonstarters played well for St. Kate's Wednesday evening. Kaitlyn Struemke (Somerset, Wis. / Somerset) provided a nice spark off the bench, as she scored five points thanks to 2-3 shooting on the floor. Jaelyn Miltz (Monticello, Minn. / Monticello) tallied a career-high two blocks in the fourth quarter alone, which seemed to shift the momentum in the Wildcats direction. Unfortunately, costly turnovers and fouls led to a scoring drought by both St. Kate's and Macalester, resulting in the 61-46 loss.
Garcia was the team's leading scorer with 13 points, while Meg Clark (Kenyon, Minn. / Kenyon-Wanamingo) and Kurth each added 10. Jackie Radford (St. Paul, Minn. / Cretin-Derham Hall) was the Wildcats leading rebounder for the 11th time this season with eight total rebounds.
With the loss, St. Kate's overall record falls to 7-11 and the team is 3-8 in MIAC play. The Wildcats will return to the court on Saturday at 3 p.m. when they take on Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota.
