Game Summary
WINONA, Minn. — Entering Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against Carleton College, the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team had not posted a loss on the season — not to mention the team had yet to play a game on its home court.
Winning games by as much by an average of 21 points, while averaging 81.4 points per game as a team, the Cardinals were confident and determined to pull out a win over Carleton — one of just two teams to sweep its season series vs. SMU a year ago.
But the confidence crumbled quickly — and so did SMU's season-opening five-game winning streak — as the defending conference champion Knights handed the Cardinals a 57-42 loss at the SMU Gym.
“We were finding the basket, but we couldn't get any of our shots to fall in,” said SMU coach Dan Messmann, whose Cardinals shot just 24 percent from the field, and were a meager 3 of 17 (22 percent) from beyond the 3-point line. “It all came down to shooting, and the more shots you miss, the less confident you become.”
SMU (3-1, 5-1) left for halftime intermission down by seven, 28-21, posting a field goal shooting effort of 25 percent. The Cardinals made only eight of 32 field goals — led by Ashley Luehmann (Lewiston, Minn.) with 10 points.
Luehmann finished with a team-high 17 points, while Rattunde added 16 points and led in both rebounding and steals, with nine and five, respectively.
For the Knights (5-0, 5-3), Kristi Colbenson tallied 16 points, while both Kari Christianson and Beth Freeman contributed 10 points.
Messmann is hoping his Cardinals can regain some of that confidence — not to mention their shooting touch — Saturday, as SMU plays host to Concordia in another key early-season MIAC battle.
“(Concordia) is another one of those teams that are going to be battling for the top spots in the conference,” said Messmann of the Cobbers, who knocked the Cardinals out of the MIAC tournament a year ago with a 73-65 victory. “The biggest key for us is going to be how we respond to coming off a tough loss like we are.
“It's going to take a total team effort if we are going to come away with a win.”
