ST. PAUL, Minn. - The St. Catherine University basketball team finished their season with a tough loss in the first round of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs. The Wildcats fell to the No. 3 seed University of St. Thomas 68-55 on Tuesday evening at Schoenecker Arena led by the senior class of
Danica Cambrice,
Emma Nelson, and
Jackie Radford. Overall in their career, these three have helped St. Catherine to the MIAC Playoffs three times in the past four seasons.
Since arriving at St. Catherine for the 2016-17 season, the three have had an impact on the success of the program. As the Wildcats leading scorer all season, Cambrice will finish her career in purple and gold as the No. 8 all-time in points scoring a total of 1,154 in four seasons. In true fashion, Cambrice led the team in her final game with 16 points. To top it off, Cambrice recorded five boards, three steals and shot 4-6 from the free-throw line.
Radford finished her career with a double-double adding 11 points and tallying a game-high 13 rebounds. Her last game also included seven assists and two steals advancing her to the No. 4 position for career rebounds with 555.
Nelson capped-off her most successful season recording a career-best 46 points, all of which were scored in the last month. Fresh off her career-best game adding 12 points against Carleton on Saturday, Nelson added 6 more points in her final game as a Wildcat just behind Cambrice and Radford.
In the first half of the quarterfinal, St. Catherine outscored the Tommies 29-26. The defending MIAC Champions felt the pressure for the Wildcats coming out of the half down by three and adding 24 points to St. Kate's 13 and taking the lead. In the final ten minutes of the game, the Wildcats struggled to cut the deficit scoring 13 points again while the Tommies added 18.
In addition to the senior class highlighting the final game of the season, rookies
Cierra Ahlf, Mary Claire Francois,
Bree Glynn, and Sarah LaVell combined for 17 points. Ahlf led the first-years with five points, three rebounds, and a game and career-best five steals while Francois, Glynn, and LaVell all added four points in the game.
St. Catherine wraps up the 20-19-20 season with an overall record of 12-14 and a MIAC record of 9-11.
