ST. JOSEPH, Minn. — If the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team could have played the first half, the way they played the second half, the Cardinals would have given league-leading Saint Benedict a real run for their money.

Unfortunately, coach Shawn Stimmel doesn't have a choice when it comes to which halves count and which don't.

In other words, the Cardinals were stuck with their 19-point first half Monday — and the 23-point hole that went with it.

"We played very well in the second half. In fact, if we could have played like that in the first half, too, it easily could have been a whole different ball game," said Stimmel, whose team came out on the short end of a 65-49 MIAC decision to the Blazers. "We just did not play well in that first half, and to try and come back from a 23-point deficit — against a team like that — it's a pretty tall order."

But the Cardinals gave it their best shot, cutting CSB's lead to nine, 54-45, on a pair of free throws by Jessica Weisbrod (Rollingstone, Minn.) with 5:33 remaining in regulation, but that was as close as they would get, as CSB outscored SMU 9-4 the rest of the way to seal the win.

"We had our good stretches, but we also had some not-so-good stretches," admitted Stimmel, whose team shot 36 percent from the field (16-for-44), but was haunted even more by the 23 turnovers — which Saint Benedict turned into 21 points. "We did not do a very good job of taking care of the basketball, and against a good team like (Saint Benedict), if you are careless with the basketball, they are going to make you pay."