WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's basketball team never let Gustavus out of their sights Monday evening.
Every time the Gusties would made a run, the Cardinals would hang close with a run of their own.
Unfortunately, close was all the closer SMU would get, as Gustavus held off the pesky Cardinals en route to a 74-66 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory at the SMU Gym.
“It's tough,” SMU coach
Mandy Pearson said. “I thought we played well and did a good job of hanging with (Gustavus). But I also thought like we could have played better — a few too many turnovers, too many (Gustavus) rebounds … .
“If we tighten those things up a bit, the outcome could have been different.”
Monday's loss overshadowed the Herculean effort of SMU's
Jess Miller (Carver, Minn.), who proved to a be one-woman wrecking crew for the Cardinals, knocking down a career-high 29 points. The Cardinal junior missed just one field goal, going 13-for-14 from the field, while adding a 3-for-4 performance from the free throw line.
“Jess was amazing,” Pearson said. “We had people yelling on the bench to get Jess the ball. It was just one of those games where she couldn't miss.”
The Gusties built leads as big as 10 in the opening half, but each time it appeared like Gustavus would run away and hide, the Cardinals — fueled by Miller's Midas Touch — would claw their way right back into it.
Gustavus led 33-23 late in the firs thalf, but SMU responded by ending the half with a 7-2 run to cut the gap to five, 35-30.
And it was more of the same in the second half, as Gustavus jumped out to a 45-34 lead early in the second half, only to have SMU whittle the lead back to six, 52-46 with just over 12 minutes remaining in regulation. An 8-2 run by GAC was answered by an 8-2 run of SMU — capped by a jumper by Miller — to make it a 65-58 game with 2:32 on the clock.
Miller's final basket would get SMU within seven, 73-66, but the Cardinals would run out of time, as they fall to 1-2 in the MIAC and 2-4 overall.
Along with Miller's career night, the Cardinals also got 10 points from
Cherie Kulig (Independence, Wis.), while Briana Radtke and Molly Geske each recorded 16 points for Gustavus, which won its fifth straight in improving to 3-0 in the MIAC and 5-1 overall.
The Cardinals are back in action on Wednesday, playing host to St. Thomas in a 7:30 p.m. contest at the SMU Gym.
