Box Score  | GameDay Preview

NORTHFIELD, Minn. — Shelby Auseth (Wanamingo, Minn.) and Courtney Euerle (Litchfield, Minn.) have proven to be the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team's one-two punch offensive punch this season.

Through the Cardinals' first five games, the dynamic duo has led the team in scoring four times.

Monday evening, St. Olaf put the defensive clamps on the Cardinal pair — limiting Auseth to five points and Euerle to four.

So coach Mandy Pearson simply unveiled yet another weapon in her offensive arsenal — sharp-shooter Sara Schoenthaler (White Bear Lake, Minn.) and an explosive aerial assault from behind the 3-point line.

Schoenthaler scored a career-high 15 points — knocking down three of the team's season-high nine 3-pointers — as the Cardinals pulled away from St. Olaf for a 68-57 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory at Skoglund Center.

The Cardinals raced out to a 16-5 advantage through the game's opening 10 minutes, before pushing that cushion to 15, 23-9, on a Schoenthaler trey with 8:18 remaining in the opening half. St. Olaf would trim the SMU lead to eight, before the Cardinals pushed it back to 11, 33-22, at the break.

The Oles came out smoking in the second half, using a 19-9 half-opening run to cuth the Cardinals' lead to one, 42-41, with 11 minutes to play.

That, however, would be as close as St. Olaf would get, as the Cardinals slowly pulled away over those final 11 minutes en route to the 11-point, 68-57 victory.

Schoenthaler wasn't the only one raining in threes for the Cardinals, as Darcey Rice (Eagan, Minn.) nailed a team-best four treys on eight attempts, and Bridget Pethke (New London, Wis.) tossed in two, as the two each scored 12 points.

Kim Cerjan posted a double-double of 13 points and 12 rebounds to lead the way for the Oles, who shot 33 percent from the field (17-for-51).

The Cardinals (3-1 MIAC, 5-1 overall), winners of two straight and four of their last five, are now off until Dec. 28, when they travel to Naperville, Ill., for a 2 p.m. nonconference game against North Central.