ST. JOSEPH, Minn. — For 20 minutes, the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team matched Saint Benedict basket for basket.
Over the second 20 minutes, however, the Cardinals were unable to repeat that first-half effort, as CSB outscored SMU 35-18 in the second half en route to a 64-41 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory Saturday.
“We played pretty well in the first half and did a nice job of shutting down (CSB's) drives,” said SMU coach
Mandy Pearson. “But in the second half, St. Ben's was able to get to the basket, and when they are able to drive like that, it opens everything up for them.”
Clinging to a three-point, 20-17 lead, the Blazers closed the first half on a 9-6 run to take a 29-23 halftime advantage. An 11-5 spurt to open the second half pushed CSB's lead to 40-28, and the Blazers never looked back in winning their fifth straight.
Jess Miller (Carver, Minn.) scored a game-high 15 points for the Cardinals (1-4 MIAC, 2-6 overall), while Heather Gillund and Mindy Schmidt each netted 14 points for the Blazers (5-0 MIAC, 7-1 overall).
The Cardinals are back in action on Monday, playing host to Carleton in a 5:45 p.m. conference contest at the SMU Gym.
