Game Summary
WINONA, Minn. — It was a tale of two halves for the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team in its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic game against Gustavus Wednesday evening.
A bad half, and a good half.
Make that a very bad half, and a very good half.
The Cardinals made just four field goals in the game's opening 20 minutes, shooting 20 percent from the field and staring at a 10-point, 23-13 deficit heading into the locker room at the half.
That was the very bad half.
Over the game's final 20 minutes, SMU lit it up, nailing 13 of 19 field goals (68 percent) and netted 18 of 20 free throws as the Cardinals erased the 10-point deficit and handed the Gusties a 60-53 setback at the SMU Gym.
"That was not us in the first half," said SMU coach Dan Messmann, whose team fell behind 9-0 in the game's opening four minutes, and saw its leading scorer, Jamie Rattunde (Rollingstone, Minn.) get whistled for her fourth foul with 6:43 remaining in the first half. "Gustavus is always a tough, tough team to play. We knew we had to be tougher — both physically and mentally — in the second half."
And they were.
The Cardinals scored eight straight points to cut the Gusties' lead to two, 23-21, to open the second half, tied the game for the first time since the opening tip on a pair of free throws from Megan Moran (Burlington, Wis.), and took their first lead, 37-35, on a three-pointer from Ashley Luehmann (Lewiston, Minn.) with eight minutes remaining.
SMU pushed that lead to eight, 47-39 on a lay-up by Rattunde, but Gustavus scored the game's next 10 points to regain the lead, 49-47, on a jumper by Kristin Kachelmyer with 4:16 left.
Down, but far from out, the Cardinals fought back, getting a pair of free throws from both Jessica Weisbrod (Rollingstone, Minn.) and Moran to take the lead for good, 51-49.
"This was a total team effort," said Messmann, whose team improved to 4-2 in the MIAC and 8-2 overall with its third straight win. "We've really been trying to focus on getting everyone involved — it worked against Bethel (an 87-66 win) and it worked again tonight."
