WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's basketball team kicks off its 2009-2010 season on the road Monday, as the Cardinals travel across town to square off against NCAA Division II Winona State in a 6 p.m. at the Warriors' McCown Gymnasium.

The Records:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (0-0 Overall)
Winona State Warrriors (0-0 Overall)

GameDay On The Web: Live Stats

Last Action: Today's game is the season opener for the Cardinals. Winona State, meanwhile, enters tonight's contest having played three exhibition games, beating the University of Minnesota (64-62), falling to Northern Iowa (65-55) and University of South Dakota ().

Last Meeting — November 22, 2008: The Warriors scored 10 of the game's first 12 points and never looked back, rolling to a 91-45 nonconference victory over the Cardinals at McCown Gymnasium.

Saint Mary's Cardinal Notes: Jess Miller (Carver, Minn.) and Cherie Kulig (Independence, Wis.) earned honorable-mention All-MIAC honors a year ago. Both Miller and Kulig started all 22 conference games in leading the Cardinals to its second straight 4-18 mark in league play. Miller finished with a team-leading 11.3 ppg scoring average, shooting 38 percent from the field (98-for-253), while also pulling down 101 rebounds (4.6 rpg). Kulig, meanwhile, also averaged in double figures in her second season as a Cardinal, scoring at a 10.7 ppg clip, including a team- and league-best 111-for-133 performance from the free throw line. The Cardinal sophomore also collected a team-leading 102 rebounds (4.6 rpg) and dished out a team-high 61 assists. …  Miller and Cherie Kulig also closed out the season as the Cardinals' leading scorers, averaging 11.2 and 10.7 ppg, respectively. The two led the team in scoring in 18 of the teams' 25 games. … Miller has started all 50 games through her first two years as a Cardinal. … The Cardinals closed out the 2008-09 season ranked No. 3 in the MIAC in 3-point field goals made, attempted and 3-point field goal percentage, going 140-for-410 (34 percent) in 22 conference games. … Kulig led the MIAC in free throws made (111) and attempted (133) and was fifth in free throw percentage (83%). … SMU's Feb. 14 win over St. Olaf snapped a pair of streaks for the Cardinals. The 65-62 win put an end to a six-game losing streak, while also snapping a 19-game road losing streak, which dated back to a 57-54 victory over St. Olaf on Jan. 5, 2008. … Both of SMU's wins vs. St. Olaf last season came by identical 65-62 scores. … SMU's 73-69 win over Bethel on Jan. 24 was the Cardinals' first overtime game since a 66-60 OT loss to St. Olaf on Jan. 31, 2007. The last time SMU had won an overtime game was a 75-73 OT win over — ironically — Bethel on Jan. 2, 2006.

Winona State Warrior Notes: The Warriors, who kicked off their season with a 66-64 exhibition win over NCAA Division I University of Minnesota, are coming off a season in which they set a single-season school record for wins (24). … WSU made its first appearance in the NCAA Division II national tournament, reaching the regional semifinals, where the Warriors dropped a 75-69 overtime decision to Fort Collins (Colo.). … Ana Wurtz enters tonight's contest needing 40 points to become the 12th player in WSU women's basketball history to score 1,000 career points. … Wurtz and Natalie Gigler are the only returning starters off of last year's record-setting team. Wurtz averaged 16.5 ppg, while Gigler also averaged in double figures at 11.9 ppg.