Box Score  | GameDay Preview

NORTHFIELD, Minn. — After dropping their two regular-season games against St. Olaf, the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team was hoping the third time would be the charm.

And what a charm it was.

The Cardinals trailing by eight with 11 minutes remaining in regulation, outscored the Oles 19-8 the rest of the way to lift Saint Mary's to a 55-52 victory in the opening round of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference playoffs Tuesday evening at Skoglund Arena.

With the win, the fifth-seeded Cardinals — who had fallen to the Oles 76-64 and 57-47 in the teams' two regular-season meetings — advance to Thursday's MIAC semifinals, where they will square off against top-seeded and regular-season champion St. Thomas in a 7:30 p.m. contest at Schoenecker Arena in St. Paul, Minn.

The Cardinals had the upper hand early Tuesday, building a pair of nine-point leads — 21-12 and 29-20 — but the Oles found their shooting touch late in the half, using a 10-0 half-ending run to take a one-point, 30-29, advantage into the locker room at the break.

SMU was on fire from behind the 3-point line in the game's opening 20 minutes, draining 5 of 12 3-point attempts — including two from Brittany Begrowicz (Des Plaines, Ill.), two from Jessica Thone (Woodbury, Minn.) and one from Sarah Schoenthaler (Hugo, Minn.).

But it was the Oles' dead-eye shooting from behind the arc that sparked their half-ending run, as back-to-back 3-pointers from Addy Bates cut SMU's lead to one, 29-28, with 1:57 to go and a pair of free throws by Mackenzie Wolter completed the 10-0 burst and gave St. Olaf the 30-29 edge heading into the second half.

Staring at a halftime defiicit, however, has been nothing new for the Cardinals, who picked up their sixth win when trailing at the break — thanks in large part to Thone's late-game heroics.

The junior netted seven consecutive points — completing SMU's second half rally and giving the Cardinals the lead for good, 53-52, with 1:15 remaining on the clock. Jamie Stefely (Lisle, Ill.) would drain a jumper as the shot clock expired to push the SMU advantage to three, 55-52, and Wolter's desperation, last-second 3-pointer missed the mark to give the Cardinals their first post-season win since SMU beat Gustavus 77-67 on Feb. 21, 2005.

Thone finished with a team-high 18 points going 4-for-11 from the field — including a 3-for-7 effort from behind the 3-point line — while also adding a 7 of 9 showing from the free throw line. Stefely chipped in 12 points on 5 of 10 shooting from the field and a pair of free throws.