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WINONA, Minn. — If the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team has proven anything this year, it's that the Cardinals are cool under pressure.

And in the most pressure-packed game of the season, the Cardinals were at their coolest Tuesday evening.

Unfazed by a 14-point deficit two minutes into the second half of its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament game against Gustavus, SMU methodically picked apart the Gusties' defense, outscoring GAC 40-19 over the game's final 18 minutes en route to a 76-69 victory at the SMU Gym.

With the victory — the Cardinals' fifth straight, and second time in as many years SMU has won its post season-opener — SMU earned a spot opposite second-seeded St. Thomas in Thursday's 7:30 p.m. MIAC Tournament semifinal at Schoenecker Arena in St. Paul, Minn.

In Tuesday's other MIAC Tournament quarterfinal, fourth-seeded Saint Benedict cruised to an 86-79 win over Hamline and will travel to Moorhead, Minn., on Thursday to take on top-seeded and regular-season champion Concordia at 7:30 p.m.

“We made it a little tough on ourselves early, but I thought we played very well in the second half,” said SMU coach Mandy Pearson, whose team improved to 22-4 overall — the Cardinals' most wins since going 24-3 and finishing third in the NCAA regional during the 1985-86 season. “We weren't very good on the defensive end in the first half, but we were much better in the second.”

The first half belonged to the Gusties, as GAC scored the game's first eight points — and never relinquished the lead. Gustavus built its lead to as many as nine on five separate occasions, including a 45-36 advantage at the half.

The Cardinals could not find their shooting touch in the first half, missing their first six field goal attempts and 13 of their first 16 — settling for an 11-for-28 opening-half shooting performance from the floor.

Fortunately for SMU, the Cardinals were near-perfect from the free throw line, netting 13 of their 36 first-half points from the line — going 13-for-14, including knocking down their first 11 in a row.

And that was a trend that would continue in the second half, as SMU went to the free throw line 23 more times over the game's final 20 minutes — draining 19.

All told, the Cardinals scored 32 of their 76 points from the charity stripe.

The Gusties opened the second half in much the same way they opened the first half, scoring five unanswered points to push their lead to 14, 50-36.

That 5-0 run proved to be a wake-up call for the Cardinals, who went on an eight-minute, 20-6 run to pull even, 56-56 with 8:52 remaining in regulation. The game would be tied once more, 58-58, before SMU drained three straight free throws — one by Courtney Euerle (Litchfield, Minn.) and two by Jamie Stefely (Lisle, Ill.) — to take the lead for good.

SMU would push its lead to a game-high 11, 75-64 before settling for the seven-point, 76-69 victory.

Stefely finished with a team-high 16 points for the Cardinals, while Euerle and Jessica Thone (Woodbury, Minn.) each chipped in 14 points. Stefely — coming off her fifth double-double of the season against Augsburg on Saturday — also added a team-best seven rebounds, while Thone dished out seven assists.

Abby Rothenbuehler netted a game-high 18 points in the losing effort for Gustavus (15-11), while Stephanie Comer (13), Julie Dysthe (11) and Mia Sandstrom (10) also scored in double figures for the Gusties.