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WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's basketball team headed into Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against Gustavus riding a season-high eight-game winning streak.

The Cardinals' road to eight straight wins, however, had been rather interesting over the last week.

SMU had to overcome a season-high 39 turnovers en route to win No. 7 — a 68-55 victory over Carleton last Monday.

The Cardinals then rallied from 15 points down in the second half to post win No. 8 — a 79-70 triumph at Hamline last Wednesday.

And win No. 9 in a row didn't come any easier, as SMU had to overcome a 10-point first-half deficit — not to mention trailing by eight midway through the second half — before using a late 21-5 burst to secure a 67-58 victory over the Gusties at the SMU Gym Saturday.

The Cardinals got off to a slow start, falling behind 19-9 with 11:34 remaining in the first half, but a four-minute, 9-0 run put SMU within one, 19-18. GAC pushed the lead back to six, 26-20, but again the Cardinals answered, scoring five of the final seven points to again pull within one, 28-27 at the break.

Gustavus continued to have the upper hand through the early minutes of the second half, building its lead to as many as eight, 40-32, before the Cardinals kicked their offense into high gear.

Trailing 44-40 with 9:21 remaining, the Cardinals went to work, sealing their ninth conference win by scoring 21 of the next 26 points to take their biggest lead of the game, 61-59, with 1:05 left.

Courtney Euerle (Litchfield, Minn.) scored a season-high 20 points and added seven rebounds to lead the way for the Cardinals, while Bridget Pethke (New London, Wis.) added 14 points and Natalie Larson (North Branch, Minn.) finished with 10.

Karina Schroeder netted a team-best 16 points and Britta Rinke added 15 in the losing effort for Gustavus.

SMU shot 38 percent from the field (20-for-52), but used a 24-for-30 effort from the free throw line to secure the victory.

With the win, SMU improved to 9-1 in conference play and 12-1 overall. With the victory over the Gusties, SMU equaled its season-high nine-game winning streak of a year ago, while starting the season with 12 wins in their first 13 games for the first time since the 1985-86 season — when they opened the year 19-0 en route to a regular-season conference championship and an NCAA national tournament berth.

The Cardinals are back in action on Monday, when they travel to Si Melby Hall in Minneapolis, Minn., for a 5:45 p.m. conference matchup with Augsburg.