Senior guard Jenna Dockter had 15 points and No. 5-ranked St. Thomas used two decisive runs to pull away from host St. Catherine, 62-49, in Wednesday night's MIAC women's basketball play in St. Paul.
Tenth-year UST head coach Ruth Sinn won her 199th game with the Tommies (14-0 overall, 7-0 MIAC). St. Thomas became one of the first teams in the nation to clinch a winning season and in the process won their 10th consecutive road game.
UST started slowly. The game was tied 16-16 before St. Thomas' 20-4 run over the final 6:31 of the first half created a 16-point lead at the break.
The Toms used a 23-9 run to built the lead to a peak of 60-35 with 4:26 to play. The Wildcats (7-7, 2-5) scored 14 points down the stretch to whittle the final margin.
Senior Anna Smith had 12 points; junior guard Katie Stone added seven points and seven rebounds; and freshman guard Maddie Wolkow scored eight points off the bench.
The first-place Toms have a two-game lead over 5-2 Gustavus and a three-game lead over five other teams near the mdway point of the 18-game conference race.
The Tommies play Saturday at Hamline (1 p.m.).