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NAPERVILLE, Ill. — The Saint Mary's University women's basketball team used a quick start — scoring the game's first nine points — in rolling to its 67-36 season-opening win over Alma (Mich.) Friday afternoon at the North Central (Ill.) Tip-Off Tournament.

Saturday afternoon against Olivet (Mich.), the start wasn't quite as quick — but the final sprint sure was impressive.

Fueled by the season's first double-double by the Cardinals' Jamie Stefely (Lisle, Ill.), SMU transformed a seven-point halftime lead into a 20-point, 69-49 nonconference victory during the second day of the North Central (Ill.) Tip-Off Tournament.

Stefely, who recorded a team-best seven double-doubles a year ago, tossed in a game-high 21 points — marking the fourth time in her collegiate career she has eclipsed the 20-point barrier — while also pulling down 11 rebounds. Courtney Euerle (Litchfield, Minn.) and Jessica Thone (Woodbury, Minn.) also scored in double figures vs. the Comets, scoring 12 points each, while Thone equaled a career-high with a team-best seven assists.

The Cardinals rode the red-hot shooting of Stefely to a seven-point, 38-31 halftime lead, as the SMU senior knocked down all six of her field goal attempts en route to a 12-point first-half effort.

Stefely netted four of the Cardinals' first six points, as SMU held leads of 6-2, 10-6 and 17-14, before Olivet knotted the game 19-19 with 9:28 remaining in the opening half. The game would be tied again seven minutes later, 29-29, before the Cardinals used a 9-2 half-ending run to take their seven-point, 38-31 advantage into the locker room at the break.

Olivet scored five of the first eight points to open the second half to get within six, 42-26, but it was all SMU after that. The Cardinals used a 6-2 run to lead by 10, 48-38 with 11:16 left — and they were just getting started, pushing their advantage to as many as 22, before settling for the 20-point win.

SoQuitta DeShazer led the way for Olivet (1-1 overall), scoring 14 points and adding nine rebounds.

The Cardinals, who now opened the season 2-0 for the second time in the last three years, kicks off the home portion of its schedule on Nov. 28, when SMU hosts St. Olaf in a 5:30 p.m. Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest at the SMU Gym.