WINONA, Minn. —
Mandy Pearson had a simple game play heading into Wednesday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against St. Olaf: Spread out the offensive scoring.
And spread it out the Cardinals did.
With St. Olaf holding SMU leading scorer
Jess Miller (Carver, Minn.) to just five points, Pearson turned to
Sarah Adie (Chanhassen, Minn.) who picked up Miller's slack to the tune of a career-high 17 points in helping guide Saint Mary's to a 62-53 conference win at the SMU Gym.
“Sarah was great tonight — she really stepped up on the offensive end when we needed her,” said Pearson of the sophomore post, who scored 11 of her 17 points in the second half, when the Cardinals outscored St. Olaf 38-26. “She works very hard in practice and has been a solid rebounder for us this season. It was nice to see her put together that type of offensive performance.”
Adie didn't do it alone, however, as
Jessica Thone (Woodbury, Minn.) collected a game-high 21 points — knocking down five 3-pointers, while scoring 16 second-half points — and
Cherie Kulig (Independence, Wis.) chipped in 10 points.
After struggling to find their rhythm through the game's opening 20 minutes, the Cardinals quickly turned the momentum in their favor, going on a 7-0 run to open the second half to turn a three-point halftime deficit into a four-point, 31-27, SMU lead — a lead they would never relinquish.
The Oles pulled within one, 35-34, with 14:25 on the clock, but the Cardinals used an 8-2 run to regain a little breathing room at 43-36. St. Olaf again clawed its way back, getting the SMU lead down to three, 49-46, only to have Thone drill one of her five 3-pointers with 5:45 remaining to make it a 52-46 SMU lead.
Thone would knock down back-to-back 3-pointers to push the Cardinals' lead to nine, 55-46, and SMU never looked back in collecting its third conference win of the season.
The Cardinals, who improve to 3-6 in the MIAC and 4-8 overall, are back in action Saturday, traveling to Concordia for a 1 p.m. conference showdown against the Cobbers.
