Dominant fourth lifts Huskies to 83-70 victory over Mary

Saturday, January 12

St. Cloud, Minn.

3:30 p.m.

St. Cloud State

10-4,7-3NSIC

University of Mary

9-4, 7-3NSIC

University of Mary

St. Cloud State

Katrina Theis recorded the second double-double of her career with a career-high 21 points and 17 rebounds against the Marauders.

Photo by: Kylie Macziewski

1/12/2019 8:30:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

ST. CLOUD, MINN. – Entering Saturday's game, the St. Cloud State University women's basketball team lost just three games in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) play. Two came at the hands of the University of Minnesota-Duluth, but the other was against the University of Mary. On Saturday, the Huskies were able to avenge their early season loss to the Marauders, as a dominant fourth quarter lifted St. Cloud State to an 83-70 victory over Mary.

The win proved to be the Huskies most dominant of the season, as the 13-point margin was the largest for the team this season. It certainly didn't come easy, though. St. Cloud State trailed 16-13 at the end of the first quarter, as Mary's Cassie Askvig hit a deep-three to give her team the team.

The Huskies hung with the Marauders in the second quarter, as they never allowed the visitor's lead to get out of reach. When Mary took a 23-16 lead at 7:06 in the quarter, Kassidy Steen (Cloquet, Minn. / Cloquet) came up with a clutch jump to cut the lead back to 23-18. Again, though, the Marauders managed to extend their lead back to seven points, until Madelin Dammann's (Waconia, Minn. / Waconia) layup slimmed it back to five. From that point on, St. Cloud State was able to match Mary shot for shot and only trailed 36-33 at the half.

Things continued to be tight in the third quarter, and despite their best efforts, the Huskies still trailed 56-55 entering the fourth and final quarter of play. That was when everything came together for St. Cloud State. The team outscored the Maraurders 28-14 in the final quarter, thanks to outstanding offensive performances from Katrina Theis (Maple Grove, Minn. / Maple Grove) and Mallie Doucette (Colfax, Wis. / Colfax). The duo scored a combined 29 points in the final 20 minutes of play, propelling the Huskies to their 83-70 victory. Tori Wortz (Hutchinson, Minn. / Hutchinson) was once again clutch for St. Cloud State as well. The sophomore scored 13 of her 18 points in the third and fourth quarters, and her three-pointer at 8:20 in the fourth allowed the Huskies to take their first lead since the first quarter.

Theis ended up giving St. Cloud State the definitive lead at 5:18, as her layup under the basket gave the team a 66-64 advantage it would never relinquish. For the next three minutes, the Huskies would outscore the Marauders 10-0, primarily from the free throw line, as Theis, Wortz and Doucette made Mary pay for its last ditch efforts to foul. Doucette, in particular, was gold from the charity strip, as she made 12-12 free throws, including the final two, to clinch the 83-70 win for the Huskies.

Doucette was the team's leading scorer in the victory, as she scored 24 points on 5-8 shooting from the floor and 12-12 shooting from the free throw line. Theis was a star in multiple ways, as she tallied a career-high 21 points and 17 boards for an impressive double-double. The first year also came up with a crucial block for St. Cloud State during the team's comeback.

Wortz recorded her third-straight 18+ point scoring performance, as she tallied 18 points in the victory, including 13 in the second half of play. In the last three games, Wortz is averaging 25.3 points per game and currently leads the team with a 12.7 points per game scoring average.

With the win, St. cloud State's overall record improved to 10-4 and the team is now 7-3 in NSIC play. The Huskies will return to action on Friday, January 18 when they travel to St. Paul, Minnesota to take on the No. 2 team in the NSIC South, the Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears. Tip off is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at Concordia-St. Paul.