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WINONA, Minn. — The last time the Saint Mary's University and St. Olaf women's basketball teams met, it was in the opening game of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament — and the Cardinals came away with a 55-52 victory.

The Cardinals and Oles squared off again in another opener on Wednesday — the teams' conference opener.

And for the second straight meeting, it was the Cardinals who had the upper hand, pulling away over the game's final 10 minutes to seal a 54-47 conference win at the SMU Gym.

Jessica Thone (Woodbury, Minn.) led the way for the Cardinals, scoring 11 points, while adding eight rebounds and five assists. Courtney Euerle (Litchfield, Minn.) chipped in seven points and five boards in the win.

Heading into the half with a 26-19 lead, the Cardinals faced a little resistance from the Oles to open the second half, as St. Olaf cut the gap to two, 30-28, on a Nikki Forgner layup four minutes into the second stanza.

Frogner's layup may have made it a two-point game, but it also awakened the Cardinals' offense, as SMU went on a four-minute, 8-0 run — including 3-pointers from Darcy Rice (Eagan, Minn.) and Adrianna Stephens (Madison, Wis.) — to regain control. SMU pushed the lead to as many as 14 following a pair of Rice free throws with 6:37 to play and were never challenged the rest of the way.

The Cardinals held St. Olaf to just 18 of 56 shooting, while also forcing the Oles into 24 turnovers.

SMU improves to 3-0 on the season — the Cardinals' best start since opening the 2004-05 season with five straight wins — and returns to action on Saturday, hosting St. Catherine in a 3 p.m. conference game at the SMU Gym.