Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — If Shawn Stimmel needs any evidence to support the claim that his Saint Mary's University women's basketball team has improved this season, he need to look no further than the Cardinals' two games against St. Thomas.

In their first meeting, the Cardinals allowed 86 points — the second-most points scored against SMU this season — while SMU netted a season-low 35 in an 86-35 loss on Nov. 29.

Saturday afternoon, the same two teams squared off again, this time on the Cardinals' home floor.

And this time, with far different results.

The Cardinals held St. Thomas to just 50 points — the Tommies' third-lowest offensive output of the season — while scoring 59 of their own points, as SMU snapped a two-game losing streak with a 59-50 win.

"This was a nice win — we played exceptionally well, especially on the defensive end," said Stimmel, whose Cardinals moved to 3-9 in the MIAC and 6-10 overall with the victory — their fourth win on their home floor. "Our defense was best aspect of our game today. We didn't give (St. Thomas) many good looks at the basket, everything they scored, they really had to earn.

"And, we took better care of the basketball when we had it."

After turning the ball over a season-high 35 times in their first meeting with t he Tommies, the Cardinals only turned it over 19 times this time around.

"We've been learning the hard way the importance of taking care of the basketball," said Stimmel. "You can't turn the ball over 25, 30 times a game and expect to be competitive. We've been doing a much better job over the past couple of weeks and today was another example of that."

Neither team managed much offense in the opening 20 minutes, as SMU scored the final five points of the half to take the biggest lead of the game to that point, 25-21.

But once the Cardinals got that final halftime lead, they weren't about to give it up.

SMU built their lead to as many as 13 points in the second half and never let UST within five, as the Cardinals opened the second half of the conference schedule on a high note.

"This team has really been working hard, and they have made some great strides," said Stimmel. "But so many times, they weren't rewarded for those efforts with a win. Today, we played another solid game, and we got the win to show for it."