COLUMBIA, Ky. – The 19th-ranked Lindsey Wilson women's basketball team topped conference opponent St. Catharine (Ky.), 76-62, on Saturday afternoon at Biggers Sports Center.

After dropping its first two Mid-South Conference games earlier this season, the Blue Raiders (8-2, 2-2 MSC) have now won back-to-back conference matchups.

In a game that saw Lindsey Wilson lead the visiting Patriots (3-8, 0-5 MSC) by as many as 25 points during the second half, the Blue Raiders also started the opening half strongly. Lindsey Wilson scored the game's first 13 points as five different Lindsey Wilson players contributed a point during the opening stretch that spanned three-plus minutes.

In the first five minutes of play, St. Catharine turned the ball over six times and did not score until a successful three-point shot by Kayla Wilson with 16:01 on the clock.

In that span, the Patriots hit one-of-five field-goal attempts. Conversely, the Blue Raiders converted seven-of-eight shots from the floor and three-of-four free-throw attempts with a single turnover to build a 17-3 edge when St. Catharine's bench called a timeout at the 14:56 mark.

Later on in the first half, the Patriots again were trailing the Blue Raiders by 14 points at 24-10 with 7:43 remaining before halftime. St. Catharine would later draw within single digits of Lindsey Wilson following a 9-3 run that made it a 27-19 game near the five-minute mark.

During this spurt, the Patriots hit four-of-five shots from the field, capped by another three-pointer by Wilson at the 5:15 mark.

St. Catharine trailed Lindsey Wilson by eight points after Jenna Thornhill scored near the basket with 2:07 on the clock to make the score 32-24. With less than two minutes until half, the Blue Raiders used a Courtney Sandlin basket and a pair of free throws from both Chanel Roberts and Bre Elder to assume a 38-26 advantage at halftime.

In the opening period, the Blue Raiders shot 48.3 percent from the floor (14-of-29) and converted 9-of-11 free-throw attempts (81.8 percent). The Patriots owned a 19-to-15 rebounding edge, but succeeded on only 11-of-29 shots from the field (37.9 percent) while attempting one free throw.

During the second half, St. Catharine trimmed down Lindsey Wilson's lead to 11 points after a three-point basket by Heather Sandlin made the score 40-29 right near the 19-minute mark.

The Blue Raiders, however, had a 17-3 run over the next seven minutes of play to assume a 25-point lead at 57-32 following Keosha Wisener's basket with more than 12 minutes remaining in regulation.

In this stretch, Lindsey Wilson hit four-of-five field-goal attempts and converted 8-of-10 free-throw shots with just a one turnover. In comparison, St. Catharine made only one-of-eight shots from the field during the course of this seven-minute span.

Despite being outrebounded by a 37-to-33 margin, the Blue Raiders used a 51.0 percent shooting performance (26-of-51) and a 22-of-27 showing from the free-throw line (81.5 percent) to emerge victorious over the Patriots.

St. Catharine finished with a .375 field-goal percentage (26-of-64), but did convert nine three-point shots (9-of-20) compared to just a pair for Lindsey Wilson (2-of-13).

Wisener finished with a career-high 15 points and added six rebounds for the Blue Raiders, and Michelle Montgomery contributed 13 points and five rebounds. Roberts totaled a dozen points, four rebounds and two assists, and Billie Hearn had nine points.

Kayla Richardson had a team-best four assists to go along with three steals, while Alexus Chinn chipped four points, four rebounds and a team-high five steals.

For the Patriots, Wilson led all players with 17 points, including five three-pointers, and also had five rebounds and five assists. Sasha Ruiz-Lopez had 11 points and five rebounds, and Brooke Gee finished with eight points and six rebounds. Heather Sandlin contributed five points, six assists and five steals.

Lindsey Wilson plays next at Cincinnati Christian (Ohio) on Dec. 13 with the opening tip scheduled for noontime CT.