WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's basketball team, coming off a 75-58 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference loss to Hamline in St. Paul, Minn., on Wednesday, return home for their final home game of the season Saturday, as the Cardinals play host to Concordia in a 1 p.m. conference game at the SMU Gym.
The Records:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (4-15 MIAC / 5-17 Overall)
Concordia Cobbers (14-5 MIAC / 15-7 Overall)
Last Action: Hamline scored 38 points in the second half, as the Pipers pulled away from SMU, outscoring the Cardinals 38-26 in the game's final 20 minutes in handing Saint Mary's a
75-58 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback Wednesday evening in St. Paul, Minn. Concordia, meanwhile, had a chance to stay at the top of the race for the MIAC regular-season title on Wednesday, but gave up 49 second-half points in losing to Macalester for the second time this season,
84-81, in St. Paul, Minn.
Last Meeting — January 16, 2010: Despite holding Concordia to just 19 second-half points, the Cardinals could not pull off the upset against the Cobbers, as SMU managed just 16 points over the game's final 20 minutes in falling
46-43 in a conference game in Moorhead, Minn.
Saint Mary's Cardinal Notes: Jessica Thone (Woodbury, Minn.) scored a game-high 17 points — including a perfect 9-for-9 performance from the free throw line — to lead the Cardinals against Hamline Wednesday. … Thone has accounted for three of the Cardinals' five 20-point performances this season (27, 22 and 21 points).
Jess Miller (Carver, Minn.) (27 points) and
Cherie Kulig (Independence, Wis.) (24 points) are the other two. … Miller chipped in 13 points against the Pipers Wednesday, while
Kim Kaminski (Milwaukee, Wis.) chipped in 10. … Kaminski, who averaged 2.7 ppg in SMU's first 19 games, has now scored 11, 10 and 10 points, respectively, in the Cardinals' last three contests. … Miller, who extended her consecutive starts string to 72 Wednesday, has now scored in double figures in 17 of the team's 22 games, and has netted 20 or more points three times this season — including a career-best 29 points on Dec. 7 against Gustavus. …
Renee Pecarina (Winona, Minn.) enjoyed a career night vs. Carleton on Feb. 3, pulling down a career-best nine rebounds — all on the defensive end. … The Cardinals have recorded two double-doubles this season — Thone scored 13 points and added 11 rebounds vs. Bethel on Jan. 23 en route to her first collegiate double-double, while
Jamie Stefely (Lisle, Ill.) put together a 16-point, 16-rebound effort vs. Hamline on Jan. 6. … Miller enters today's game boasting a team-best 14.1 ppg scoring average. She also ranks sixth in the MIAC in scoring, averaging 15.3 ppg in 19 conference games … Thone leads the team in 3-pointers (39), while Kulig boasts a team-high 71 assists. … SMU's 58-49 win over Carleton on Feb. 3 snapped a couple of streaks for the Cardinals, who not only put an end to their season-high seven-game losing streak, but also snapped an 11-year winless drought at Carleton, where SMU had not won since a 77-73 win on Feb. 21, 1998. … The Cardinals' 80-70 loss vs. Carleton in their first meeting on Jan. 4 was the first OT game of the season and just the second in the last three seasons for SMU. The Cardinals beat Bethel 73-69 in double overtime a year ago.
Concordia Cobber Notes: Wednesday's loss to Macalester snapped the Cobbers' two-game winning streak and was the second time this season Concordia has lost to the Scots. … Macalester's 84 points are the most allowed by the Cobbers in a conference game this season. … With Wednesday's loss the Cobbers, who have already locked up an MIAC playoff berth, dropped into a third-place tie with St. Thomas, two games behind league-leading Gustavus with two weeks to play. … Erica Nord, Anna Matetich, Brittany Jossart, Sara Sorbo and Lindsey Schultz all scored in double figures vs. Macalester Wednesday. Nord led the Cobbers in points (18), assists (7) and rebounds (5), while Jossart and Matetich each added 14 points, and Sorbo and Schultz finished with 11 and 10 points, respectively. … Nord's 18-point performance marked the 10th straight game in which she has led the team in scoring. The Cobber xxxx enters today's game vs. Saint Mary's boasting a team-high 14.5 ppg average. Maggie Bauernfeind is also averaging in double figures at 10.7 ppg. … Seven of the Cobbers' 15 wins have come at home, where Concordia is 7-2. CC is just 8-5 on the road this season.
