BOSTON, Mass. – Sophomore LaShay Holt (Minneapolis, Minn.) scored 17 points, grabbed nine rebounds, and dished out four assists as the St. Catherine women's basketball team to an 81-58 win over Wentworth Institute of Technology in the opening round of the Emerson College Tip-Off Tournament.
The Wildcats will face the host Lions in the tournament's championship game on Sunday at 3:00 p.m., while the Leopards will face Keuka at 1:00 p.m. in the third-place game. Emerson defeated Keuka, 74-53, in the day's first game.
Wentworth by as many as four on three occasions early in the first half, including when freshman Riselly Deoleo (Manchester, N.H.) drained her second three pointer of the half to give Wentworth an 11-7 lead with 13:57 left.
St. Catherine claimed the lead for good with 8:23 left when senior Mary Neumann (Duluth, Minn.) hit a jumper which began an 8-0 run and gave the Wildcats a 33-21 lead with 3:39 left.
A Deoleo 3-pointer cut the deficit to nine on Wentworth's next possession, however St. Catherine's responded with a 13-3 run and took a 43-24 lead into the locker room. Over the first 20 minutes the Leopards were held to 30 percent shooting from the floor.
The Wildcats built their lead to as many as 26 with 16:33 left in the contest before a 16-3 Leopard run cut the deficit to 13 (59-46) with 11:00 minutes left after a junior Carly Rogers (Scarborough, Maine) layup. During the run junior Rachael Camara (Fall River, Mass.) had 12 of Wentworth's 16 points.
St. Catherine scored the game's next seven points to up its lead back to 20 and would lead by as 26 late in the contest.
Sophomore Gabby Zehrer (Rogers, Minn.) had 16 points for the Wildcats while freshman Audra Clark (Kenyon, Minn.) added 10 points and three assists. The Wildcats had a 50-30 rebounding advantage in the contest.
Camara had 19 points and six rebounds for the Black & Gold, while Deoleo netted 16 in her collegiate debut and Rogers had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
