ST. PAUL, Minn. — For the first time in their last three games, there was no 20-point scorer for the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team Saturday afternoon against St. Catherine.
And, unfortunately, there was no victory, either, as St. Catherine raced out to a 46-31 halftime advantage and never let the Cardinals get their offense on track in beating SMU 86-59 in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game at SCU's Butler Center.
"I thought we played pretty well early on, we were attacking the basket and really getting after it on offense," said SMU coach
Mandy Pearson. "But then we seemed to lose that intensity and started forcing up a lot of shots, rather than working the ball around for a good shot."
Over the opening 10 minutes, the game was a see-saw affair, with six lead changes en route to a 21-21 deadlock. A jumper by the Wildcats' Molly Peterson, however, ignited a 23-6 run that gave St. Catherine a commanding 44-27 advantage with 2:11 remaining in the half.
The Wildcats, who took a 15-point, 46-31 lead into the locker room at the break, came out and outscored SMU 25-14 in the first 10 minutes of the second half and never looked back in winning for the fifth time in eight MIAC games.
Jess Miller (Carver, Minn.) scored a team-high 15 points for the Cardinals, who were coming off back-to-back games in which they boast a 20-point scorer — getting 27 points from
Jess Thone (Woodbury, Minn.) last Monday and 24 points from
Cherie Kulig (Independence, Wis.) on Wednesday. Thone was limited to seven poits and Kulig was held to six by the Wildcats, who got a game-high 21 points from Peterson and a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds from Laura Kalbfell.
The Cardinals, who fall to 2-6 in the MIAC and 3-8 overall, return to action Wednesday, playing host to St. Olaf in a 7:30 p.m. conference game at the SMU Gym.
