Game Summary vs. St. Olaf / GameDay Online / Photo Gallery

WINONA, Minn. — A year ago, two of the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team's three conference wins came at the expense of St. Olaf.

Saturday afternoon, the Cardinals continued that dominance over the Oles — and, more importantly, put an end a streak that spanned two seasons and 19 games.

Fueled by a 42-point second half, the Cardinals rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit to beat St. Olaf 65-62 at the SMU Gym — giving  SMU its first win since a 63-48 victory on Feb. 2, 2008 over, ironically, St. Olaf.

“We needed this win,” said SMU coach Mandy Pearson, whose Cardinals ended the 2007-08 season with seven straight losses, then opened the 2008-09 campaign winless in their first 12. “This team has worked so hard all season — I have never been around a group of individuals who put so much effort into every practice and every game.

“Losing those first 12 games certainly wasn't any fun — but everyone continued to work hard to improve,” Pearson added. “I've said all along that we are getting better every day, and today proves it.”

The Cardinals scored the game's first five points, but it was the Oles who would build the biggest lead of the half, an eight-point, 22-14 advantage with 4:30 remaining. SMU would get as close as three, 26-23, but St. Olaf closed the half with a pair of field goals to take a 30-23 advantage into the locker room at the break.

And the break is just what the Cardinals needed, scoring eight unanswered points to open the second half to take a 31-30 advantage. The lead would change hands even times over the next 10 minutes, before SMU took control for good on a 3-pointer by Jesa Hall (Glenwood City, Wis.) that gave the Cardinals a 48-46 lead with 8:08 to play.

The Cardinals would push the lead to seven, 63-56 with 1:31 on the clock, but the OIes would answer, forcing a pair of SMU turnovers to make it a 63-60 game with 59 seconds remaining.

Sarah Adie (Chanhassen, Minn.) hit the front end of a one-and-one to make it 64-60, but again the Oles countered with a Terin Euerlie jumper to cut the gap to 64-62. Like Adie, Emily DeWitt (Lino Lakes, Minn.) hit the first of two free throws to make it a three-point game, and the Oles' Kelsey OJa and Jamie Erdahl both missed game-tying 3-point attempts — Erdahl's at the buzzer — as the Cardinals escaped with the win.

“I wasn't nervous at the end — even though I probably should have been,” said Pearson, who got a team-high 16 points form Jess Miller (Carver, Minn.), while Hall chipped in 15 and DeWitt added 12. “We played a bit tentative down the stretch, but I just knew we were going to come through.

“It was a great win for us — a huge confidence-booster, and, hopefully, a sign of good things to come.”