Game Summary

ST. PETER, Minn. — All season long, the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team has been haunted by ice-cold second-half shooting.

Saturday afternoon against Gustavus, the Cardinals shot a respectable 45 percent from the field in the game's final 20 minutes.

Unfortunately, they shot 20 percent from the field in the first half — and scored just 13 points — as the Gusties cruised to a 72-37 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory.

"We just didn't come out ready to play," said SMU coach Dan Messmann, whose team dropped to 5-10 in the MIAC and 9-11 overall with the loss — their most lopsided loss of the season. "We had more than our fair share of good looks at the basket (SMU attempted 25 first-half field goals), we just couldn't get anything to fall."

The Gusties certainly didn't have any trouble, as Gustavus, fueled by a 15-flor-27 effort from the field, netted more points in the opening 20 minutes (44) than the Cardinals did in the entire game.

"Gustavus is a good team, but our own poor shooting made them look even better," said Messmann, who got a team-high 14 points from Alyse Coates (West St. Paul, Minn.). "It was just one of those games, I guess.

"We just didn't play well at all."

Fresh off a 64-62 win over Bethel last Wednesday, the Cardinals were looking to make up a little ground in the MIAC playoff race against GAC. Instead, they found themselves staring at a 7-0 hole two minutes into the game — and that hole only got deeper as the game progressed.

The Cardinals, down by 31, 44-13 at the intermission, found their shooting touch in the second half, connecting on 10 of 22 field goal attempts, but it was too little, too late as Gustavus' lead never dipped below 28 points as GAC completed the season sweep of SMU.

"I'm a little disappointed, because I felt like we were playing pretty well of late," said Messmann, whose team had won three of its last four heading into Saturday's showdown. "This is one of those games you just want to forget — and fast."