ST. PAUL, MINN. – Danica Cambrice (St. Paul, Minn. / St. Croix Lutheran) and the St. Catherine University basketball team are no strangers to making history. Earlier this year, Cambrice tallied the fifth-highest scoring game in school history, with 30 points in a win over Macalester. In Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) game against Hamline University, Cambrice made even more history, as she led the Wildcats to a 68-61 win thanks to yet another monster scoring performance.

Cambrice was dominant for St. Kate's, both defensively and offensively, as she tallied 30 points, 12 rebounds, and eight steals in 36 minutes of play against Hamline. She also kicked off the Wildcats scoring charge, as she led the team with a season-high 20 points in the first half alone. Fellow sophomore Jackie Radford (St. Paul, Minn. / Cretin-Derham Hall) was also offensively on fire for the Wildcats in the first half, despite missing the majority of the second quarter due to foul trouble. Radford added 10 points to Cambrice's 20, and the two sophomores accounted for 30 of St. Kate's 39 first half points.

While the Wildcats scored 39 in the opening half, they also gave up 42 to the Pipers. The visiting team matched St. Kate's for every shot in the opening half of play, especially down the stretch in the second quarter. After the Wildcats took a 34-30 on a jump shot by senior Meg Clark (Kenyon, Minn. / Kenyon-Wanamingo), Hamline scored five unanswered points to take its first lead of the game 35-34. While Cambrice quickly gave St. Kate's the one-point advantage on the next possessions, the Pipers three-point shooting proved to be too much, as they went on a 6-2 scoring run to end the first half with a 42-39 lead.

Unfortunately, Hamline's three-point shooting just got better as the third quarter progressed. The Pipers jumped ahead 48-41 midway through the quarter thanks to treys from Reilly Geistfield and Alaina Quaranta. However, the Wildcats never let Hamline jump out to a ridiculous lead, always making sure they stayed within six of the Pipers lead. After Hamline took a 51-46 lead on yet another three, this one by Molly Wampler, St. Kate's closed the gap, thanks to free throws from Morgan Kurth (Hutchinson, Minn. / Hutchinson) and a layup from Radford in the closing minute.

Despite strong defensive play, the Wildcats trailed the Pipers 53-49, setting up the dramatic fourth-quarter turnaround. However, St. Kate's rally didn't start for a solid two minutes, as Hamline opened the fourth with two steals, converted to four points, to take a 57-49 lead over the Wildcats.

The rally started with a Radford layup and a Cambrice rebound followed by a Kurth layup, all in under a minute. At 7:49 in the quarter, Clark found the sophomore forward under the basket and fed her the ball, allowing Radford to cut the Pipers lead to 57-51. Cambrice then came up with the huge defensive rebound at the other end of the court, before Kurth's layup whittled the lead to 57-53 with seven minutes remaining in the quarter.

No one scored for nearly three full minutes after Kurth's layup, until the first year found herself at the free throw. She made one of two free throws, getting St. Kate's one possession away from tying Hamline. This is when the tides officially turned. Although the Pipers scored the next two points on free throws, the momentum had slowly shifted in the Wildcats direction. After Hamline went ahead 59-54, Cambrice made a highly contested layup on the ensuing possession before Kurth's big-time steal forced the Pipers to foul with under three minutes remaining in regulation.

Usually the team's kryptonite, it was free throws that put St. Kate's back in the game. Clark made four free throws in a 20 second time span to regain a 60-59 lead for the Wildcats with 2:27 remaining in regulation. From there, St. Kate's made six of eight free throws and gave up just two points in the final two minutes, resulting in the 68-61 victory.

Radford added 16 points in the win with Kurth tallied 11.

Thanks to the win, St. Kate's overall record improves to 11-12 and the team is now 7-9 in MIAC play. The Wildcats will return to the court on Wednesday for a crucial MIAC game at Augsburg University. Tip off is scheduled for 7 p.m.