St. Paul, Minn. – The Macalester College women's basketball team won the first game of the season in a game that went down to the final seconds. The Scots took down St. Kate's by a score of 62-58. The Macalester women's basketball team is now 1-0 for the first time since the 2016-2017 season. St. Kate's falls to 1-1 on the 2021 season.  
 
St. Kate's got off to a 4-0 lead after winning the tip-off. Senior forward, Katherine Podoll (San Geronimo, Calif./Sir Francis Drake) scored the Scots first points of the season on a layup to cut the deficit in half. Both teams went back and forth during the first quarter but a jumper from Senior forward Kayla Togneri (Ventura Calif./Ventura) and a free-throw by Senior guard Justine Barraza (Burbank, Calif./Harvard Westlake) made the score 15-14 in favor of St. Kate's.
 
A Barraza jumper to start the second quarter gave Macalester the first lead of the night. Podoll knocked down two big three-pointers to give the Scots a 26-22 lead.  After the Wildcats started to chip away, Barraza added a three-pointer to extend the Macalester lead to 29-24. St. Kate's regained momentum after going on an 11-0 run to make the score 33-29 going into halftime.
 
With the score knotted up at 35 early in the third, senior guard Katie Sowerby (Mill Valley, Calif./Tampalpais) got a steal and took the ball down court for a fast-break layup to give Macalester a 37-35 lead. First year forward, Cat Terres (Saint Michael, Minn./Monticello) added four points in the paint during the third quarter to put the Scots up by four points. A 12-2 run gave the Wildcats a 51-46 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
 
Macalester started out the fourth quarter by going on a 12-2 run of their own to make the score 58-53 with just over five minutes left in the game. With a minute left the Wildcats tied the game at 58 with two clutch free-throws from Kassidy Jenkins. Sowerby made another big play on defense by grabbing a steal and assisting Barazza on the go-ahead bucket for the Scots. Podoll would eventually ice the game with two free-throws to make the score 62-58 in favor of Macalester.
 
Barraza had a team-high 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field. Barazza also added five rebounds and two assists. Podoll totaled 13 points and three rebounds while shooting 3-of-7 from beyond the arch. Sowerby chimed in with 10 points, nine assists, five rebounds, and five steals. Both Togneri and Terres crashed the glass with eight rebounds.
 
The Wildcats were led by Sarah Levell with 14 points, six rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Bree Glynn recorded a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Kassidy Jenkins also finished with 10 points.
 
The Scots will travel to St. Kate's to finish the two-game series on Sun., March 21. The game starts at 2:00 pm.
 
Box Score