WINONA, Minn. — Heading into Wednesday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener against Macalester, Saint Mary's University women's basketball coach
Mandy Pearson knew there was once area in which the Cardinals needed to be flawless — right under the basket.
And, unfortunately for the Cardinals, it was the play underneath that proved to be their undoing, as Macalester pulled down 17 offensive rebounds — including three huge offensive boards off missed free throws in the final minutes that helped secure the Scots' 61-48 conference victory at the SMU Gym.
“It told the team before the game that we would win if we could box out and do a solid job underneath — instead we gave up 18 offensive rebounds and that really was the difference,” said Pearson. “(Macalester's) post players are very, very good and we knew we were going to have to shut them down if we were going to be successful, we just weren't able to get that job done.”
The Cardinals shook off a sluggish first half — in which they scored just 15 points on 6 of 23 shooting — finally whittling the Scots' 10-point halftime lead down to three, 41-38, on a jumper in the lane by
Jess Miller (Carver, Minn.) with 5:53 remaining in regulation.
That, however, would as close as the Cardinals would get, as Macalester outscored SMU 20-10 down the stretch — scoring 11 of those 20 at the free throw line — to seal the win.
Miller and
Cherie Kulig (Independence, Wis.) scored 11 points each to pace the Cardinals, who shot 38 percent from the field (18-for-47) and made just 2 of 12 3-pointers.
Trina PaStarr netted a game-high 14 points and pulled down 10 boards to lead four Scots in double figures, with Danielle Johnson, Jessica Rene and Ann Beltzer each adding 11 points.
“I thought defensively we played very, very well,” said Pearson, whose team is back in conference play on Saturday, playing host to Bethel in a 1 p.m. contest at the SMU Gym. “Offensively we struggled a bit early — we didn't come out with a sense of urgency — but we started to get back into our game in the second half.
“We just need to keep working and get ready for Saturday.”
