Blue Devils one shot away from overtime, fall 81-79 to St. Kate's

St. Catherine University 81, UW-Stout 79 (Box Score) | Photo Gallery | Archived Video | Video Final Three Minutes

MENOMONIE (November 29, 2015) - UW-Stout simply ran out of time as they tried to send the game into overtime and dropped a nail-biter, 81-79, to St. Catherine University, Sunday at Johnson Fieldhouse.

The Wildcats (5-0) extended their season-opening winning streak to five games when Mari Lee scored with 2.8 seconds remaining to break a 79-79 tie. Stout (3-3) could not penetrate the Wildcats' defense and could not get a shot off before the buzzer to see their own winning streak end at three games.

St. Kate's jumped ahead early in this contest. After Stout opened the scoring, the Wildcats ran up as a much as an eight point lead midway through the first quarter, then held onto that lead until Stout took a 35-34 lead at 3:13 of the second quarter, but the Wildcats would again grab a 10 point lead in third.

Bailey Diersen (Fr, Greenville) tied the score at 55-55 at 2:32 in the third, then put Stout ahead 56-55 on a free throw 10 seconds later. It was a ball game after that, with neither team taking more than a three point lead the rest of the game. The game would be tied eight times through the remainder of the game.

The Wildcats had six of eight players that saw the floor score in double figures, led by Shauna Horsch's 10 points. Meg Clark and Audra Clark each scored 14 points. LaShay Holt scored 13 points coming off the bench. Lee finished with a double double, dropping 11 points and pulling down 10 rebounds.

Jenna Goldsmith (Jr, St. Anthony, Minn) led Stout with 21 points, four blocked shots and nine rebounds, eight in the first half. Diersen scored a collegiate-best 19 points - 15 in the second half - and had four steals. Kyleigh Hebert (Sr, Spencer) finished with 11 points and seven assists. Danielle Adams (Jr, Byron, Minn) yanked down a career-best seven rebounds. The Blue Devils held a 45-34 advantage off the glass. The Wildcats pulled down 20 of their rebounds in the second half.

St. Catherine shot 46.0 percent (29-63) from the floor, 47.4 percent (9-19) from 3-point range and 70 percent (14-20) from the line. Stout shot 44.1 percent (30-68) from field goal range, 21.4 percent (3-14) from beyond the arc and 66.7 percent (16-24) from the charity stripe.

Stout will be off until Tuesday, Dec. 8 when they travel to the University of Dubuque for a 5 p.m. contest.