Game Summary
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The best way to snap out of your losing ways, is to have everyone band together and fight as one.
Which is exactly what the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team did Saturday afternoon.
Stuck in the midst of a mini-slump — in the form of back-to-back losses to St. Thomas and Carleton — the Cardinals took the "five heads are better than one" approach Saturday afternoon against Macalester.
Five of the eight players who scored points for the Cardinals finished in double figures, led by Jamie Rattunde's (Rollingstone, Minn.) 20 points, as SMU snapped out of its losing ways in convincing fashion, routing Macalester 82-69.
"It was a good win for us," said SMU coach Dan Messmann, whose team improved to 9-9 in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and 9-12 overall. "Offensively we played very well — we had a lot of people chip in, and down the stretch, that's what we are going to need more than anything else, a total team effort."
Consistency was the name of the game for the Cardinals Saturday, as SMU shot 51.4 percent from the field in the first half, then bumped that up by two-tenths of a percentage over the game's final 20 minutes, shooting 51.6 percent. In each half, SMU attempted seven free throws, making six in the first half and five in the second.
"I was very pleased with our performance," said Messmann. "We knew coming in that this was a game we needed to win if we were going to contend for one of those (MIAC) playoff spots. We went out and did what we had to do."
Unfortunately for Messmann and the Cardinals, they won't have long to savor the victory — SMU is back on the court Sunday afternoon, playing host to Concordia.
"Going back-to-back is tough," said Messmann, whose team beat the Cobbers 58-46 on Jan. 20. "I'm a little worries about our conditioning — but (Concordia) is in the same boat, they had to play Carleton (Saturday), so they are going to be just as worn out as we are.
"Our game plan is going to be the same, we need to go out and play the way we are capable — don't try to do too much by ourselves — and work as a group to get the job done."
