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WINONA, Minn. — There was plenty at stake when the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team took the court Wednesday evening against Gustavus.

First, the Cardinals needed a win to remain one-game back of league-leading Concordia in the race for the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular-season title.

And second, there was a little thing called payback — after all, it was the Gusties who handed SMU an 86-66 setback in the teams' first meeting on Jan. 2 in St. Peter, Minn.

Check — and check.

The Cardinals rallied from a two-point, 29-27 halftime deficit, scoring the first five points of the second half — then using a late, 8-0 run to take the lead for good en route to a 65-58 victory at the SMU Gym.

With the win, and victories by Concordia and Saint Benedict, the Cardinals remained tied for second with the Blazers, one game behind the Cobbers — with Concordia coming to town on Sunday.

Unlike their first meeting, in which Gustavus raced out to a 16-point lead and never let the Cardinals get back into the game, Wednesday's rematch was a see-saw affair that saw seven ties and two lead changes in the first half — not to mention four more ties and four more lead changes over the game's final 20 minutes.

Trailing by two at the half, SMU scored the first five points of the second half — including a 3-pointer by Jessica Thone (Woodbury, Minn.) that gave the Cardinals' their first lead since an 8-6 advantage five minutes into the first half.

The Cardinals built their lead to five, 36-31, only to have GAC respond with a 6-0 run to retake the lead, 37-36, with 15:18 remaining. SMU would again take control, using an 8-0 burst to grab its biggest lead of the evening, 52-44, midway through the second half.

But the Gusties weren't finished, using a 12-6 run of their own to claw back to within two, 58-56, with 1:19 left in regulation. That, however, would be as close as SMU would all GAC to get, as the Cardinals closed the game scoring five of the final seven points to seal their eighth straight win.

Thone scored a team-high 15 points and also hauled in a team-best eight rebounds, while Jamie Stefely (Lisle, Ill.) chipped in 11 points and seven boards, and Bridget Pethke (Larsen, Wis.) tallied nine points.

Julia Dysthe scored a game-high 23 points and Kelsey Florian finished with 18 points as the duo accounted for 41 of the team's 58 points.

The Cardinals (13-3 MIAC, 16-3 overall) are back in action on Saturday, hosting Carleton in a 1 p.m. conference contest at the SMU Gym. Saint Mary's then follows that up with a 1 p.m. showdown with league-leading Concordia at the SMU Gym on Sunday.