Box Score  | GameDay Preivew

ST. PAUL, Minn. — When the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team hosted St. Catherine on Dec. 1, the Cardinals held the Wildcats to just nine first-half points and cruised to a 40-22 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory.

When the two teams met again on Saturday, the Wildcats nearly equaled their 22-point offensive performance — in the first half, as SCU trailed the high-powered Cardinals by just four, 25-21.

That, however, was as close as the Cardinals would let St. Catherine get, as SMU flexed its muscles over the game's final 20 minutes, outscoring the Wildcats 33-19 in coasting to their seventh straight victory, 68-40, at SCU's Butler Center.

SMU opened the half with a 7-4 run, but the Wildcats weren't impressed, using a 9-0 burst to take their biggest lead of the game, 13-7, midway through the opening 20 minutes. Leading 18-17 with 2:13 remaining, SMU closed out the half the same way it started — using a half-ending 7-4 run to take a 25-21 advantage into the locker room at the half.

The Cardinals turned up the head over the game's final 20 minutes, scoring the first six points to take a 31-21 advantage — and SMU never took its foot off the gas, building its lead to 53-32 with 9:02 to go, before closing out the game on a 15-8 run to maintain its stranglehold on a share of the No. 2 spot in the conference standings.

Fueled by a 64-51 win over Augsburg Saturday, Concordia remained atop the conference standings with a 13-2 MIAC record. SMU and Saint Benedict also won on Saturday to move to 12-3 and share second place, while Gustavus and St. Thomas — which both lost on Saturday — are two games back of the Cobbers at 11-4.

After shooting just 23 percent from the field in the first half, the Cardinals knocked down 20 of 33 field goals (61 percent) over the final 20 minutes. Jessica Thone (Woodbury, Minn.) led the way for the Cardinals, scoring 13 points, while Jamie Stefely (Lisle, Ill.) and Brittany Begrowicz (Des Plaines, Ill.) added 12 and 10 points, respectively. Stefely also hauled in a game-high 10 rebounds, as the SMU senior notched her fourth double-double of the season and 15th of her collegiate career.

Shauna Horsch and Sarah Mong led the way for St. Catherine, with each scoring eight points as the Wildcats shot just 33 percent from the field (14-for-43).

The Cardinals (12-3 MIAC, 15-3 overall) return to action on Wednesday, when SMU hosts Gustavus in a key MIAC showdown. Tip is slated for 7:30 p.m. at the SMU Gym.