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Game Summary / GameDay Online

ST.  PAUL, Minn. — In the good news department, the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team put together a 20-2 run against St. Thomas Wednesday evening.

In the bad news department, the Cardinals were staring at a 32-point, 66-34 deficit before going on that 20-2 second-half run.

And in the really bad news department, the 32-point second-half hole was just too much for SMU to dig out of, as the Cardinals dropped their third straight to open the season, 78-62, in the teams' conference opener.

"We did some good things, especially in the second half," said SMU coach Mandy Pearson, who is still looking for her first collegiate coaching victory. "We just came out way too slow. We made a very good run (in the second half) to make a game of it, it was just too deep a hole to try and dig out of."

Jess Weisbrod (Rollingstone, Minn.) led the way for the Cardinals, knocking down 7 of 15 field goals  en orute to a season-high 21-point effort. Stephanie Ayers (Deer River, Minn.) also scored in double  figures for the Cardinals (0-1 MIAC, 0-3 overall), tossing in 12 points. Carrie Embree and Sheena Porter-Wizos led the way for UST (1-0 MIAC, 2-1 Overall), scoring 15 and 14 points, respectively.

"We need to come out a lot more intense than we have the first three games," said Pearson, whose team shot just 30 percent from the field (8-for-26) and was 0-for-6 from behind the 3-point line, in the firtst half in falling behind 36-17 at the break. "It's good to see us keep battling the way we did in the second half, but somehow we need to attack the basket more — we've got to get more hungry on the offensive end."