Women's Basketball 1/24/09 -- St. Catherine 74, Augsburg 71
ST. PAUL, Minn. (1/24/09) -- Augsburg College dropped a 74-71 heartbreaker to host College of St. Catherine in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women's basketball game at St. Catherine's Butler Center on Saturday afternoon.
Augsburg (3-12, 1-11 MIAC) was led by a trio of players scoring in double figures. Shannon Renne (SO, Nicollet, Minn.) led the Auggies with 17 points, four assists and three rebounds. Serenae Levine (FY, Eden Prairie, Minn.) posted a 16-point, five-rebound effort while Christa Suedbeck (SR, Hugo, Minn./White Bear Lake HS) recorded 13 points and had eight rebounds. Michelle Richter (SR, Chaska, Minn.) led all players on the boards with 15 rebounds.
St. Catherine (10-5 overall, 7-5 MIAC) was led by Laura Kalbfell (SO, Lakeville, Minn.), who posted game-high 24 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the floor. Also leading the Wildcats were Molly Peterson (JR, Valley City, N.D.) and Brooke Hakanson (SR, Wheeler, Wis./Boyceville HS), who scored 19 and 16 points, respectively.
The Auggies had one of their best first-half performances of the season, shooting 51.4 percent (18-of-35) from the field. Offensively, the Auggies moved the ball well and defensively, they held St. Catherine to 36.4 percent (12-of-33) from the field and 0-of-7 from beyond the arc. Augsburg took a 46-35 lead into the locker room at the half.
Both teams went cold to start the second half, as neither team registered a basket for the first four minutes of action. The Auggies regained the momentum and outscored St. Catherine 15-6 over the next four minutes, building their largest lead of the afternoon at 61-41. The Wildcats turned up the pressure defense, putting the Auggies in a full-court press that flustered the Augsburg squad. St. Catherine put together a 23-6 run that cut the Augsburg lead to 67-64.
A three-pointer by the Wildcats tied things up at 69-69 with 2:05 left to play. Augsburg's Levine sunk two free throws to regain the Auggie lead, but it was short-lived, as the Wildcats hit two free-throws of their own to tie things up at 71-71 with 55 seconds remaining. St. Catherine hit a free-throw to take a one-point advantage. Augsburg called a timeout with 19 seconds left to set up a play. Unfortunately, the Auggies turned over the ball and had to foul, which the Wildcats converted on both shots to give them a three-point lead with inen seconds left. The Auggies had one final attempt to tie things up but weren't able to convert.
Augsburg shot 43.8 percent (28-for-64) for the game, and held the Wildcats to 35.4 percent (23-of-65) from the field. St. Catherine held a slight 44-41 advantage on the boards and used five key three pointers in the second half to rally for the come-from-behind victory.
Augsburg returns to action on Wednesday (1/28) at 7:30 p.m. when it travels to St. Paul to take on MIAC foe St. Thomas.
