WINONA, Minn. - St. Catherine basketball claimed a thrilling 79-77 double-overtime victory at Saint Mary's University grabbing the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) win of the season. The exciting win at Saint Mary's Gym was the highest-scoring contest for Wildcats this season advancing them to an overall record of 3-3 and 1-2 in conference play. 

"I am really proud of our players and it was a hard-fought team victory," said head coach Don Mulhern. "We really had to dig down and we show a lot of grit and resilience."

In what ended in dramatic fashion, started with St. Catherine carrying the lead over Saint Mary's for the first 30 minutes of play. The Wildcats tallied 12 points in the first quarter and 21 in the second compared to the Cardinals 31 points for the two-point lead headed into the half. Both teams put up 12 points coming out of the half with the Cardinals still trailing by two headed in the final 10 minutes of regulation. The Cardinals went onto outscore St. Catherine again by two with the Wildcats forcing overtime with a late basket from senior Danica Cambrice knotting it up at 60. 

The first overtime included four total lead changes and both teams scoring 11 points. Cambrice forced a second overtime with St. Catherine trailing by two with four seconds remaining earning five more minutes on the clock to clinch the win. Rookie Mary-Claire Francois posted three clutch points in the final two minutes and sealed the victory with the winning basket with just eight seconds remaining. 

Cambrice recorded her first double-double of the season leading all scorers with 24 points and grabbing 14 off the glass. She shot 10 for 17 from the field and was 75 percent at the free-throw line. Francois' five points in the last minute of the game getting her to double-digit points at 11. In 22 minutes on the court, the rookie had three rebounds, shooting 50 percent from the field and also shooting 75 percent from the line. 

Senior Jackie Radford and sophomore Mackenzie Kurczek both had nine points in the win with Radford tallying seven boards and Kurczek added five rebounds and a team-best three steals. 

Both teams forced each other to 23 turnovers in the 60-minute game which translated into 23 points for the Wildcats and 19 for the Cardinals. 

Today's win was St. Catherine's only game this week before a pair of conference games next week. The Wildcats travel to Northfield on Monday, December 9 to play St. Olaf followed by hosting Bethel on December 11 at Butler Center. The team closes out 2019 with a pair of non-conference games taking on the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire on Saturday, December 14 and Bethany Lutheran College on New Year's Eve, both at the Butler Center.