Game Summary vs. Macalester / GameDay Online

ST. PAUL, Minn.  — Wednesday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener against Macalester was the start of a new chapter for the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, there wasn't anything new about their first-half performance.

For the third straight game, the Cardinals failed to score more than 20 points in the first half, as Macalester held SMU to just 15 points in the game's opening 20 minutes Wednesday en route to a 65-50 victory.

“It was the same old story,” said SMU coach Mandy Pearson, whose team is still looking for its first win of the season after dropping its third straight. “We played very well in the second half ¬— we pretty much matched (Macalester) shot-for-shot — it's just that we dug ourselves so deep a hole we couldn't get out of it.”

The Cardinals netted just five of their 21 field goal attempts in the opening half in falling behind by 12, 27-15. SMU knocked down 10 of their 30 attempts from the field in scoring 35 second-half points, but it was too little, too late.

“We just can't seem to get off to a good start,” said Pearson, who got a team-leading 12 points from Jess Miller (Darwin, Minn.). “The effort is there, everyone is working hard and giving it everything they've got, we've just got to figure out a way to do that from the opening tip, rather than waiting until the first half is over.”

The Cardinals (0-1 MIAC, 0-3 overall) are back in action Saturday, traveling to Bethel for a 1 p.m. conference game against the Royals.