ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Minnesota Morris women's basketball team returned to the court after a two-week layoff for a non-conference matchup Saturday at St. Catherine. The Cougars held a halftime lead, but the Wildcats outscored UMM by 11 in the second half and took a 63-53 victory from the Cougars.

UMM trailed by 6 after the first quarter, but were able to take a 30-29 lead into halftime. Bailey Miller was a catalyst in leading the Cougars back. She scored the first bucket of the quarter then connected on back-to-back shots that tied the game at 24. Emma Atkinson came off the bench to give the Cougars a spark. She drained a 3 that gave UMM a 28-26 lead; their first lead since they scored the game's first points. Atkinson shared the Cougar-lead in scoring with 10 points on the afternoon. After the Wildcats tied it, Mauren Thiesen's lay-in gave the Cougars the edge going into the break.

The Cougars maintained their lead early in the third quarter. Becca Holland and Abby Van Kempen hit back-to-back jumpers to increase UMM's lead to 3 at 34-31. St. Kate's countered though with an 8-0 run to give them a 39-34 edge. Miller and Kendra Raths hit jumpers to pull the Cougars within 1, but the Wildcats scored the quarter's final six points to take a 45-38 into the final quarter. The Wildcats built their lead to double digits in the final quarter to sustain the victory.

Miller and Van Kempen equaled Atkinson with 10 points. Raths pulled down 13 rebounds to go along with 7 points.

Minnesota Morris (2-9) returns to conference play Wednesday for a game at Bethany Lutheran.