Box Score  | Photo Gallery | GameDay Preview

WINONA, Minn. — The first time the Saint Mary's University and St. Thomas women's basketball teams squared off this season, the Cardinals entered riding a season-opening five-game winning streak — only to have the Tommies hand them a streak-snapping, 65-44 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback.

Wednesday evening, the two teams were back on the court — and the Cardinals were again riding a five-game winning streak.

And for the second time in two meetings, a streak was snapped.

This time, however, it was the Cardinals' 11-game losing streak against the 12th-ranked Tommies, as Jamie Stefely (Lisle, Ill.) poured in a game-high 23 points and Courtney Euerle (Litchfield, Minn.) and Jessica Thone (Woodbury, Minn.) combined for 24 point points in leading SMU to a 62-56 victory at the SMU Gym.

“That was a good win for us,” understated SMU coach Mandy Pearson. “I thought we played a very solid game — especially after the first five minutes.

“We didn't get off to a very good start, but once everyone settled down and played our game, we were pretty good.”

With the win, the Cardinals moved into a four-way tie for second place in the conference standings at 11-3. Concordia is atop the MIAC heap at 12-2, followed by Gustavus, Saint Benedict, Saint Mary's and St. Thomas.

The Cardinals struggled with the Tommies' full-court press early, allowing St. Thomas to race out to a 15-2 lead in the game's opening four minutes. SMU cut the lead to three, 18-15, with 7:08 remaining in the first half, but again the Tommies pulled away, closing the half on a 15-9 run to take a 33-24 lead into the locker room at the break.

The Tommies' lead was anything but comfortable in the second half, as SMU continued to whittle away, grabbing their first lead of the game, 41-40, on an Euerle bucket with 10:53 remaining.

It was a lead the Cardinals would never relinquish.

SMU padded that advantage to 10, 52-42, but a 10-2 UST burst made it a two-point game, 54-52 with 2:32 left in regulation. Three straight points from Euerle pushed the Cardinal lead to five, 57-52, but St. Thomas answered with a pair of free throws from Anna Smith to make it 57-54 with 1:10 on the clock.

After an SMU miss, the Tommies had a chance to tie it, but Carley Emery's 3-point attempt would not drop. Stefely followed with three straight free throws to push SMU's lead back to 60-54 — and seal the victory.

Stefely knocked down 10 of 18 field goals and was 3-for-4 from the field en route to her season-high 23-point effort — the second time in the last three games the senior has eclipsed the 20-point barrier. Euerle chipped in 14 points, while Thone — who was honored before the game for becoming the 10th player in program history to reach the 1,000-career point plateau — tallied 10 points and nine rebounds.

Smith tossed in 20 points and Jenna Dockter added 12 for the Tommies (11-3 MIAC, 13-4 overall), who have now lost two straight.

The Cardinals are back in action on Saturday, traveling to St. Paul, Minn., for a 3 p.m. conference game against St. Catherine.