ST. PETER, Minn. — It's been a gut-wrenching week for the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team.

Last Saturday, the Cardinals loss a heartbreaking 57-56 decision to Hamline when the Pipers went the length of the floor and hit the game-winning shot at the buzzer.

Four days later, the Cardinals gave up the game-tying basket with 51 seconds remaining in regulation, then were outscored 12-7 in overtime en route to a 66-61 setback at the hands of St. Olaf.

There were no late-game heroics or buzzer-beating layups on Saturday — Gustavus made sure of that early on.

The Gusties outscored SMU 37-20 in the first half — scoring more points than the Cardinals would the entire game — then held Saint Mary's to a season low 12 second-half points in rolling to a 68-32 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory.

"It was a struggle for us from start to finish," said SMU coach Shawn Stimmel, whose team has now dropped five straight, equalling their longest losing streak of the season. "We just did not play well."

Except for one player, that is.

Jessica Weisbrod (Rollingstone, Minn.) hoisted the Cardinals on her shoulders and tried to carry them as best she could, but a 24-point, 11-rebound effort wasn't quite enough.

"Jess played extremely well," said Stimmel of his junior forward, who recorded a career-best 24 points en route to her sixth career double-double. "But you aren't going to win too many ball games when one player scores 24 of your 32 points."

The Gusties scored 14 of the game's first 16 points and never looked back, building leads as big as 19 in the first half and 36 in the second in sweeping the season series vs. the Cardinals.

"Emotionally, the games against Hamline and St. Olaf were tough — to lose two close games like that is tough," admitted Stimmel. "The problem is, we weren't able to put together that same type of effort (against Gustavus). If we play the way we did against Hamline and St. Olaf, this isn't a 36-point blowout."