ST. PAUL, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict basketball team won the second half Wednesday night, but a cold first half haunted ultimately did the team in in a MIAC matchup against St. Kate's.
After going down 42-21 at halftime and shooting just 21 percent from the field in the first half, CSB came out and shot 50 percent from the field and outscored the Wildcats 42-34 in the second half. The second-half surge wasn't enough, however, as Saint Benedict fell 76-63 in St. Paul.
CSB (3-4, 1-1) went down by as many as 25 points early in the third quarter, but following a St. Kate's jumper at the 8:33 mark, Saint Benedict went on a 13-5 run that included a pair of baskets from both
McKenzie Holgate and
Shae Olsen and a three from
Maddie Schmitz. The Wildcats still led by 19, 58-39, after the third quarter, and pushed their lead to 22 early in the fourth, but at the 7:43 mark of the final quarter,
Megan Thompson scored a three-point play to spark a 13-1 run that spanned five minutes and ended with just an eight-point lead for the Wildcats.
Schmitz hit a jumper to make it an eight-point game, 67-59, with 1:59 left, and 30 seconds later hit a three to cut the gap to seven – 69-62 – with 1:21 remaining. But St. Kate's hit a pair of free throws and was able to get a pair of steals and a layup to push the team's lead back to double-digits before the game ended.
St. Kate's (3-4, 1-1) led 11-3 early and then pushed its lead to 17-8 with just under three minutes left in the first.
Sidney Schiffler hit a three to make it a six-point game, 17-11, and
Brenna Redman hit a late jumper to make it an eight-point game, but the Wildcats led 24-13 after one quarter. St. Kate's made its move in the second, outscoring CSB 18-8 and holding the team to just a pair of field goals and three free throws.
Schmitz finished with 16 points to pace CSB. Thompson added 13 points, Holgate finished with 12 and Olsen led the team with seven rebounds.
Breanna Gates also had six rebounds for CSB, which ended the game shooting 36.4 percent from the field and shooting a 16-for-23 clip from the line. CSB had 27 rebounds and 14 turnovers.
Danice Cambrice led all scorers with 25 points for the Wildcats, who shot just shy of 51 percent from the field. Jackie Radford had 10 rebounds and Audra Clark had six assists. St. Kate's went 13-for-24 from the line and had 40 rebounds and 13 turnovers.
CSB is back at home Saturday, Dec. 8, when it hosts Hamline at 1 p.m.
