ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's basketball team begins defense of its regular-season Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title on Wednesday, traveling to Hamline's Hutton Arena for a 7 p.m. conference tilt against the Pipers.
 
The Matchup:
No. 14/16 Saint Mary's Cardinals (0-0 MIAC | 6-0 Overall) at Hamline Pipers (0-0 MIAC | 3-2 Overall)
 
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National Rankings:
• The Cardinals are currently ranked No. 14 in the latest USA Today Sports Coaches Poll and No. 16 in the D3hoops.com Top 25 | Polls Release

Last Action:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals picked up their sixth straight win on Nov. 25, cruising to a 64-49 nonconference win over UW-La Crosse at Mitchell Hall in La Crosse, Wis. | Recap
• Hamline: The Pipers picked up their third straight nonconference win on Nov. 25, outlasting UW-Stout 95-89 at Hutton Arena in St. Paul, Minn. | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Hamline—A Year Ago:
• January 15, 2014: Down by as many as 15 points in the second half against Hamline, the Cardinals came storming back, using a 21-4 burst to take the lead for good en route to a 79-70 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win at Hutton Arena | Recap
• February 19, 2014: The Cardinals wrapped up at least a share of the conference regular-season crown, riding five double-figure scorers to an 83-63 win over Hamline at the Saint Mary's Gym | Recap
 
Up Next:
•  Saint Mary's: The Cardinals are back in action on Saturday, returning home to the Saint Mary's Gym for a 1 p.m. conference game against Augsburg.
• Hamline: The Pipers return to conference play on Saturday, hosting Concordia in a 1 p.m. game against Concordia at Hutton Arena in St. Paul, Minn.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2014-15 Roster | 2014-15 Schedule | 2014-15 Statistics
The Cardinals kick off defense of their MIAC regular-season title—the third in program history—after finishing 20-2 in conference play a year ago. … Saint Mary's is one of just five MIAC teams who have won three or more women's basketball conference championships. … The Cardinals' 64-49 win over UW-La Crosse on Nov. 25 was its sixth straight to open the season—the longest such streak since opening the 1985-86 season by rattling off 19 straight wins. … Saint Mary's game at Hamline Wednesday is the sixth road game among the Cardinals' first seven games—the lone home contest was a 68-54 victory over UW-Stout on Nov. 21. … With that win over the Blue Devils, the Cardinals improved to 26-2 on their home court over the past three seasons. Saint Mary's only home losses since the start of the 2012-13 season have been a 64-54 setback to Concordia on Feb. 3, 2013 and a 71-58 decision to St. Thomas in the MIAC Tournament title game a year ago. … Emma Schaefer (Falcon Heights, Minn.) and Natalie Larson (North Branch, Minn.) each finished with 14 points in Saint Mary's latest win, the 64-49 victory over UW-La Crosse. … Larson's 14-point effort was a career high, while Schaefer equaled her career best vs. the Eagles. … Larson and Schaefer are two of five Cardinals who have recorded career highs of 10 or more points this season—Molly O'Toole (Plymouth, Minn. / 21), Sam Jones (White Bear Lake, Minn.), and Micaela Meredith (Bloomington, Minn. / 11) are the others. … Kayla Lardy (Fairmont, Minn.) hauled in a career-high 10 rebounds vs. Crown on Nov. 22—it was the first time this season a Cardinal player has recorded 10 or more rebounds in a game. … Saint Mary's has boasted four players scoring in double figures in two of its six games this season. … Shelby Auseth (Wanamingo, Minn.), who has scored in double figures in four of the team's five games—including a season-best 24-point effort against UM-Morris on Nov. 16—heads into Wednesday's conference opener at Hamline boasting a team-leading 13.8 ppg scoring average. … Schaefer and O'Toole are also averaging in double figures at 10.7 ppg and 10.0 ppg, respectively. … Bridget Pethke (New London, Wis.) owns the team lead in rebounds (36) and assists (33). … Pethke finished with a single-season career-high 128 assists last season—including a career-best eight in Saint Mary's regular-season finale against Augsburg. … Pethke's 128 assists a year ago ranked No. 3 all-time. … Saint Mary's knocked down 11 3-pointers against UW-Eau Claire on Nov. 18—getting at least one trey from six different players. … Schaefer leads the team with 12 3-pointers. … The Cardinals have outscored their first five opponents 205-132 in the game's opening 20 minutes. … The Cardinals have not allowed a team to score more than 29 points in the first half this season, while holding their last three opponents—UW-Eau Claire, Crown, and UW-La Crosse—to 15, 16 and 19 first-half points, respectively. … Saint Mary's has not trailed at halftime in any of its first six games. … The Cardinals made their first NCAA national tournament appearance since the 1985-86 season a year ago, falling to UW-Oshkosh 71-61 in the regional semifinal.
 
Scouting The Hamline Pipers:
2014-15 Roster | 2014-15 Schedule | 2014-15 Statistics
Wednesday's game against Saint Mary's is the second of three straight home games for the Pipers, who opened the season with four consecutive road contests. … After dropping back-to-back games to UW-Oshkosh and UW-Eau Claire, Hamline has rattled off three straight victories—including back-to-back overtime wins over Northwester and UW-Stout. … Hamline scored a season-high 95 points in its OT victory over UW-Stout on Nov. 25. … Hamline boasted three players with 20 or more points in its win vs. UW-Stout, led by Jordan Sammons with 27. Chelsey Bonsante chipped in 21 and Chloe Graves added 20. … Sammons also hauled in 11 rebounds for her third consecutive double-double. … Alex Peterson recorded eight blocks—four shy of the school record set 21 years ago. Peterson currently ranks second among conference players in blocks-per-game (2.8). …  Hamline enters its conference opener against Saint Mary's boasting three players scoring in double figures—Sammons (25.0 ppg), Bonsante (17.6 ppg) and Graves (11.6 ppg). … Sammons also leads the team in rebounds (53, 10.6 rpg) and steals (16). … The Pipers have knocked down 26 3-pointers through five games, led by Bonsante with 12. … As a team, the Pipers are scoring at a 71.0 ppg clip while Hamline's opponents are averaging 76.8 ppg.