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53		80

Game Summary / GameDay Online

WINONA, Minn. — The offensive struggles from the field she can handle.

The mental mistakes and costly turnovers, on the other hand, she can't.

And, unfortunately for Saint Mary's University women's basketball coach Mandy Pearson, there were far too many of the latter in Tuesday's 80-53 nonconference loss to Winona State.

"We played OK, but it was the mental mistakes that really hurt us," said Pearson, whose team fell to 0-2 with the loss. "We did not play very well in the first half and we found ourselves playing catch-up all night. Offensively we missed way too many shots in the first half, but defensively we were pretty solid.

"The problem was, we'd have a great defensive possession, make a stop, force (Winona State) to take a bad shot, and we'd foul, or they'd miss a layup, get the offensive rebound, and we'd  foul them. Mentally, we just weren't very sharp."

The Warriors scored the game's first six points — thanks in part to four turnovers and three missed shots by the Cardinals on their first seven possessions — and used a 16-0 run to build that lead to 25, 32-7, with 6:37 remaining in the first half.

WSU settled for a 41-18 halftime advantage, then outscored  SMU 39-35 over the game's final 20 minutes to secure the win.

"We played much better in the second half," said Pearson, who got a team-high 15 points from Stephanie Ayers (Deer River, Minn.),  while Jess Weisbrod (Rollingstone, Minn.) was a point and a rebound away from a double-double, as the senior finished with nine points and nine boards. "But you can't put yourself in a 25-point hole like that — especially against a team as good as Winona State. I think we were a little tentative in the first half and then settled down and played much better in the second half.

"Hopefully, we can use that second half as a building block."