In a game that was similar to the night before St. Scholastica built a lead at halftime and extended it early in the second half but was unable to hold on as they lost an overtime game to the visiting Minnesota-Morris Cougars.

 

St. Scholastica (4-10, 1-4 UMAC) successfully battled early on to gain control of the game as they led 31-24 at halftime. Paced in the first half offensively by Kelly Cinquegrani (Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo HS)'s 10 points they were thriv­ing on both ends of the court holding the Cougars (8-6, 4-1 UMAC) to under 36 percent shooting from the field in the first half.

 

After rarely trailing in the opening 20 minutes the Saints came out hot scoring 13 of their 32 second half points in the opening six minutes to build a 14 point lead. Jessica Nichols was the high scorer in the half for the Saints scoring nine points in the period. However, this was not enough as Morris found their stroke in the second half shooting nearly 44 percent from the field and hitting 8-of-9 from the free throw line.

 

Increased defensive pressure by the Cougars forced the Saints into 12 second half turnovers and opened up an opportunity for a Morris comeback. Alaina Benson scored 15 second half points to push the Cougars efforts.

 

Down the stretch the Saints missed the leadership and ball-handling abilities of sophomore guard Kirsten Haukom (Marshall, Minn./Marshall HS) (15 points) who battled foul trouble the entire game. With Haukom out the Morris defense forced the Saints into turnovers and difficult shots on the offensive end.

 

As their lead began to disappear the Saints fought back and were helped by a huge three-point play by Cinquegrani. A pair of free throws by Benson with 1:05 remaining allowed the Cougars to tie the game at 63 and force overtime.

 

In the extra period the Saints' Ashley Lubbers (Little Falls, Minn./Little Falls Community HS) scored the first field goal to give the home team a two point lead but after that it was all Morris as the Cougars outscored the Saints by six the rest of the way to secure a 70-66 road victory.

 

St. Scholastica was led offensively by Cinquegrani who had a career high in points with 18, Haukom (15 points) and Jessica Nichol' career high of 11.

 

Morris was led Benson (21 points, 9 rebounds), Tynell Kocer (20 points, 5 assists) and Marissa Maynard (10 points).