ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – The St. Catherine University basketball team fell to No. 5 Bethel University 77-56 on Wednesday evening inside of Robertson Center. The loss keeps St. Catherine in a three-way tie for seventh with the College of Saint Benedict and St. Olaf College in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) this season.with an 8-10 season record and 5-8 against conference opponents.
The Wildcats starting five combined for 41 points against the undefeated Royals led by senior guard
Jackie Radford. The St. Paul, Minn. native added ten points in the game shooting 4 for 9 from the field and making two of her four charity points. To go along with her team-high points, Radford grabbed six rebounds in the game with a team-best three assists and one block.
Senior
Danica Cambrice and rookies
Cierra Ahlf and
Bree Glynn had eight points each and complied with a total of 17 rebounds. Cambrice contributed a team-high seven rebounds plus one block while both Ahlf and Glynn had five apiece. Rounding out the starting five is sophomore center
Katie Benjamin with seven points, shooting 100 percent from the field and going 3 for 5 from the line. Benjamin also had two rebounds and one block against the Royals.
In the opening quarter, St. Catherine felt the pressure from the Royals scoring just nine points to their 22. St. Catherine trailed by just two points at the 5:20 in the first quarter before Bethel went on a 10-0 run for a 14 point lead. St. Catherine squeezed in one more point before the end of the ten minutes finding themselves down 13 after ten.
The Wildcats rallied back after a tough start adding 18 points in the second quarter. Cambrice and Glynn each added four points in the quarter while Ahlf and Benjamin added three each, along with senior
Emma Nelson. The Royals maintained control for the first seven minutes building a 23-point lead with just 3 minutes to play in the half. The momentum switched quickly though as St. Catherine went on a 10-0 run to close out the last three minutes and trail 40-27 at the half.
After the break, St. Catherine continued to cut the Royals lead outscoring Bethel 18 to 16 in the third quarter. The Wildcats shot 72 percent from the field in the quarter holding Bethel to just 35 percent and half of their points were made from the free-throw line. Now feeling the pressure from St. Catherine, Bethel turned it on in the fourth quarter scoring 21 to the Wildcats' 11. Six of the Wildcats' points were from the bench in the final period with sophomores
Grace Amacher and
Chloe Venegas, and first-year
Sarah Lavell each contributing two.
St. Catherine will host St. Olaf on Saturday, February 1 at 3 pm for Alumnae and Parents' Day. The Wildcats fell to St. Olaf earlier in the season on the road 58-55.
