ST. PAUL, Minn. —
Jessica Thone (Woodbury, Minn.) led three Saint Mary's University women's basketball players in double figures with a game-high 17 points — including a perfect 9-for-9 showing from the free throw line — but it was not enough, as Hamline pulled away from the Cardinals in the second half en route to a 75-58 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory Wednesday evening.
The Cardinals had the upper hand early, racing out to a seven-point, 13-6 lead through the game's opening five minutes, and still held a five-point, 19-14 advantage with nine minutes remaining.
Over those final nine minutes, however, the Pipers' offense came to life, outscoring SMU 23-13 to take a five-point, 37-32, lead into the locker room at the break.
And the intermission didn't do anything to energize the SMU offense, as the Cardinals managed just seven second-half field goals — getting 10 of their 26 second-half points at the free throw line — and never recovered in falling to 4-15 in conference play.
Along with Thone's game-high 17 points, SMU also got 13 points from
Jess Miller (Carver, Minn.) and 10 from
Kim Kaminski (Milwaukee, Wis.), while Mary Wilkowski tallied 17 points, and Jackie Kelly and Nikki Klinck added 11 and 10 points, respectively for the Pipers (10-9 MIAC, 12-10 overall).
The Cardinals (4-15 MIAC, 5-17 overall) are back in action on Saturday, when they close out their home schedule with a 1 p.m. conference contest against Concordia at the SMU Gym.
