Box Score Box score
The Saints got off to a great start on Wednesday night at Wisconsin-River Falls, jumping out to an 8-2 lead on the Falcons' home court, but the hosts used a late second half surge to put away the visitors in taking a 69-55 non-conference victory.
St. Scholastica (3-7) held the lead until River Falls (6-6) finally jumped in front 14-12 at the midpoint of the game's opening 20 minutes.
After four lead changes and three ties the scrappy Saints moved back ahead 21-18 three minutes later but the Falcons embarked on a 9-0 run that pushed the hosts to a 31-27 halftime lead.
In the second stanza, St. Scholastica pulled within four as the clock ticked past the eight minutes to play mark. River Falls once again used a long scoring run, this one a 12-2 stretch, to increase their lead, one that would reach 18 before the final buzzer's 14 point margin.
What hurt the most in the loss were 22 Saints turnovers. UWRF scored 21 points off those turnovers while St. Scholastica mustered only seven points off 17 Falcons turnovers.
Playing without redshirt freshman Katie Christensen (Elk River, Minn./Elk River Senior HS) who is lost for the season after suffering an injury over the holiday break, the guard-depleted Saints were forced to play Kirsten Haukom (Marshall, Minn./Marshall HS) 36 minutes while often playing with four forwards on the floor.
Scoring leader Whitney Latham (Clear Lake, Minn./Becker HS) finished with a team-high 16 points while Haukom added 13 of her own.
Katie Cross (Hutchinson, Minn./Hutchinson HS) led the Saints in rebounding nine boards as CSS out rebounded the host Falcons 46 to 37.
Four Falcons reached double-digits in scoring led by Kelli Hilt's 16 points. Caitlin Hunstock had a game-high 11 rebounds in the winning effort
