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Game Summary / GameDay Online

ST. PAUL, Minn. — It was a tale of two halves for the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team — a good half, and a not-so-good half.

And it was the not-so-good half that proved to be the Cardinals downfall, as SMU managed just 19 second-half points in dropping a 58-45 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference decision to Macalester Monday.

"We played very well in the first half, both on the offensive end and the defensive end," said SMU coach Mandy Pearson, whose team shot 38 percent from the field (10-for-26) — including a 4-for-10 performance from behind the 3-point line — in the game's opening 20 minutes. "But in the second half, we couldn't seem to buy a basket."

The Cardinals trailed 28-26 at the break, but made just five second-half field goals, while the Scots knocked down nine of their 24 second-half field-goal attempts en route to their first conference win of the season.

"I thought we played better today than we did (Saturday against Saint Benedict)," said Pearson, whose Cardinals dropped a 73-61 decision to the Blazers Saturday and have fallen to 0-3 in the MIAC and 0-5 overall. "We're improving with each game, and that's good to see. I thought the first half was one of the best halves we played all year — we just couldn't seem to buy a basket in the second half, and that was the difference."

Kally Tanke (La Crosse, Wis.) scored a team-high 11 points for the Cardinals, who return home on Wednesday to play host to Hamline in a 5:45 p.m. conference game, while Jess Weisbrod (Rollingstone, Minn.) came within a basket and a rebound of her second straight double-double, finishing with nine points and nine rebounds.