WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's basketball team, coming off a lengthy Christmas break, is back in action Monday, hosting St. Thomas in a 7:30 p.m. conference game against the Tomnies.



The Teams:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (2-2 MIAC / 4-3 Overall)
St. Thomas Tommies (4-0 MIAC / 5-2 Overall)

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Last Action:
The Cardinals have not played since Dec. 12, when they dropped a 55-34 conference decision to unbeaten and league-leading Concordia at the SMU Gym. St. Thomas, meanwhile, maintained its hold on first place in the conference standings, winning its fourth straight MIAC game with a 61-52 home win over St. Olaf on Dec. 8.

A Year Ago:
December 13, 2009 — UST, bolstered by a 26-13 run to open the second half, built its lead as big as 24 points before holding off a late SMU charge to post a 68-58 conference victory at the SMU Gym.

February 1, 2010 — The Cardinals found the early going their Achilles' heel, as St. Thomas turned a three-point, 13-10, deficit into a 29-point, 44-15, cushion in the span of 12 minutes, as the Tommies rode that 34-2 run to a 50-20 halftime advantage and a 78-49 MIAC win over SMU in St. Paul, Minn.

Up Next:
After today's game against the Tommies, the Cardinals are back on the road, traveling to St. Olaf on Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. conference game against the Oles. St. Thomas, meanwhile, is also headed to Northfield, Minn., on Wednesday, squaring off against Carleton in a 7:30 p.m. MIAC contest.

Saint Mary's Cardinals News and Notes:
SMU's Dec. 12 game against Concordia was just its second home game of the season. Sandwiched between their season-opening 69-60 win over UW-Platteville and their 55-34 loss to Concordia were five straight road contests. … Courtney Euerle (Litchfield, Minn.) scored a team-high eight points and pulled down eight rebounds in the Cardinals' Dec. 12 game vs. Concordia — both were career highs. … Euerle's efforts marked the first time this season that Jess Miller (Carver, Minn.), Cherie Kulig (Independence, Wis.) or Jessica Thone (Woodbury, Minn.) did not lead the team in scoring. … Miller has started every game during her four-year career at SMU, a span of 82 straight games. … Thone and Jamie Stefely (Lisle, Ill.) each recorded their first double-double of the season on Dec. 4 against Macalester. Thone scored 13 points and added 10 rebounds, while Stefely netted 10 points and hauled in 10 boards. Eighteen of those 20 rebounds by Thone and Stefely came on the defensive end. … Miller and Kulig enter today's game vs. St. Thomas averaging in double figures. Miller is scoring at a 11.4 ppg pace, while Kulig is averaging 10.0 ppg. … Thone has netted eight of the team's 19 3-pointers this season. … SMU has outscored its opponents by one point, 193-192, in the first half, while holding a 208-190 scoring edge after halftime. … The Cardinals have allowed 60 points in three of their seven games this season. … SMU has held its opponents to 60 points or less in six of its seven games this season. The lone exception, a 74-72 overtime loss to Hardin-Simmons on Nov. 20 | 2010-2011 Overall Statistics

St. Thomas Tommies News and Notes:
The Tommies enter tonight's conference game riding a four-game winning streak — with all four wins coming over an eight-day stretch that concluded with their 61-52 Dec. 8 win over St. Olaf. … During their current winning streak, the Tommies scored a season-high 87 points in their 87-48 win over Augsburg on Dec. 6 and held Bethel to a season-low 38 points in the Tommies' 61-38 win on Dec. 4. … The Tommies do not have a player averaging in double figures, but they have six players averaging between 6.9 and 8.9 ppg. … Maggie Weier leads the way with an 8.9 ppg average, while Rachel Booth is averaging 8.6 ppg. … In her 35 games with the Tommies, Booth is averaging 15 points, nine rebounds and three blocks a game. … UST has had five different leading scorers through their first seven games. … Sarah Smith recorded the Tommies' only double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 rebounds against Bethel on Dec. 4. … The Tommies' 13 road wins last winter ranked among the best in college basketball. UST has a conference-best 34 road wins over the last four seasons. … In its last 100 games since January 2007, St. Thomas is 73-27. … The 2010-2011 season marks the 20-year anniversary of Tommie women's basketball's NCAA championship. Under then-coach Ted Riverso, St. Thomas went 29-2 and claimed the national title on its home court with a 73-55 victory over Muskingum (Ohio) | 2010-2011 Overall Statistics