ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Macalester College women's basketball team came back to earn a fourth-quarter lead before dropping a MIAC road game to St. Catherine University, 63-52 Saturday afternoon in the Butler Center. The Scots are now 1-15 overall and 0-10 in conference play, while the Wildcats improve to 8-9, 3-7 MIAC.

In the first quarter, St. Catherine used a 7-2 run over the last four minutes to break a 9-9 tie and lead, 16-11. The lead grew to as many as 10 points in the second quarter before junior guard Sydnee Smith (Gainesville, Va./Patriot) scored four points and junior guard Kendall Bernbaum (Dallas, Texas/Shelton School) hit a three-pointer to make the halftime score 26-23 Wildcats. Smith scored seven points, as Macalester held St. Kate's to 29.0 percent shooting in the first half while making 42.9 percent of its shots from the floor.

Baskets by Smith, Bernbaum and junior guard Mary Daley (Cumberland, R.I./Bishop Feehan), plus a free throw from senior forward Ellie Corbett (Austin, Texas/James Bowie) gave the Scots their first lead since early in the game, 30-28 with 5:22 remaining in the second quarter. The Wildcats answered with 10 straight points to regain the upper hand, 38-30. The teams exchanged a pair of free throws, then Daley made 1-of-2 at the line right before the end of the quarter to make the score 40-33 St. Catherine at the end of three.

Bernbaum brought Macalester back in the game by opening the fourth quarter with back-to-back threes, then first year guard Faith Accardo (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Oaks Christian) made a basket to put the Scots back on top, 41-40 1:45 into the fourth. After Lily Peper hit a three-pointer, Daley tied the score, 43-43 with a layup with under eight minutes to play. Again the Wildcats responded, this time with a 12-2 run that resulted in the largest lead of the game to that point, 55-45 with 2:51 remaining. Later in the quarter, Bernbaum made another three, and first year guard Megan Matthews (Boulder, Colo./Boulder) scored to bring Macalester to within five, 57-52 with less than a minute left. But St. Kate's tallied the final six points of the game, all on free throws, to clinch the 63-52 win.

Macalester ended up shooting 41.3 percent from the field for the game compared to 32.1 percent for the Wildcats, who went to the line 13 times more (25 to 12) than the Scots. Bernbaum came off the bench to score a career-high 14 points, including four three-pointers, in 15 minutes of action. Smith finished with 13 points and four rebounds, while Daley registered team highs of nine rebounds and four assists to go with seven points. Hattie Fox led St. Catherine with 14 points.

Macalester plays another MIAC road game on Wednesday, Jan. 28 when the Scots travel to face Bethel University. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. in Arden Hills, Minn.