WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's basketball team is back on its home court on Saturday, as the Cardinals entertain Augsburg in a 1 p.m. Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
The Matchup:
No. 14/16 Saint Mary's Cardinals (1-0 MIAC | 7-0 Overall) vs. Augsburg Auggies (1-0 MIAC | 5-2 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
Live Stats * Live Video | Video Preview | GameDay Program
 
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 | Poll Release
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals collected their seventh straight victory to open the season Wednesday, putting four players in double figures—including a career-high 23-point effort from Molly O'Toole (Plymouth, Minn.)—and handing Hamline an 80-72 setback at Hutton Arena in St. Paul, Minn. | Recap
• Augsburg: Raenn Sorenson scored 21 points to lead the Auggies to a 65-58 victory over Carleton in the teams' MIAC opener Wednesday at West Gym in Northfield, Minn. | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Augsburg—A Year Ago:
• January 20, 2014: Courtney Euerle (Litchfield, Minn.) had so much fun scoring a career-high 20 points in Saint Mary's win over Gustavus, the Cardinal senior decided to do it again two days later. And the Cardinals needed every one of those 20 points, as Saint Mary's held off a furious Augsburg rally in the second half to beat the Auggies 54-51 at Si Melby Hall in Minneapolis, Minn. | Recap
• February 22, 2014: Saint Mary's University entered its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matchup with Augsburg already owning a piece of the conference's regular-season title. Forty minutes later, it was obvious the Cardinals in general—and Courtney Euerle (Litchfield, Minn.) in particular—were not in a sharing mood. The Cardinals led by as many as 14 points in the game's opening 20 minutes and held off a late Augsburg rally in the final minutes, as Saint Mary's claimed its first out-right regular-season conference championship since the 1985-86 season with a 70-64 victory at the Saint Mary's Gym | Recap
 
Up Next:
•  Saint Mary's: The Cardinals are back on their home court on Monday, as Saint Mary's entertains Bethel in a 5:45 p.m. conference game at the Saint Mary's Gym.
• Augsburg: The Auggies are off until next Saturday, when Augsburg welcomes St. Thomas to Si Melby Hall in Minneapolis, Minn., for a 1 p.m. conference showdown.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2014-15 Roster | 2014-15 Schedule | 2014-15 Statistics
Saturday's game against Augsburg is the first of back-to-back home games to close out the 2014 portion of the Cardinals' schedule. Saint Mary's hosts Bethel on Monday before the holiday break. … The Cardinals 80-72 win over Hamline on Wednesday was their seventh 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 against Augsburg Saturday is the first of back-to-back home contests for the Cardinals—who are 1-0 on their home court this season and 26-2 at home 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. … The Cardinals boasted four players in double figures in their win over Hamline Wednesday—led by Molly O'Toole's (Plymouth, Minn.) 23-point effort. It was the third time in seven games Saint Mary's has put four players in double figures in the same game. … Along with O'Toole's team-high 23-point effort—which included a 9-for-15 effort from the field and a perfect 5-for-5 showing from the free throw line—the Cardinals also got 15 points from Bridget Pethke (New London, Wis.), 12 from Shelby Auseth (Wanamingo, Minn.) and 10 from Emma Schaefer (Falcon Heights, Minn.) against Hamline. … O'Toole's 23-point effort was a career-high and the second time in seven games the freshman has eclipsed the 20-point barrier—O'Toole netted a then-career-high 21 points vs. UW-Stout on Nov. 21. … Pethke also added a career-high 11 rebounds vs. the Pipers en route to her first collegiate double-double, while also chipping in a career-high eight assists to fall just two helpers shy of a triple-double. … Pethke's 11-rebound performance vs. Hamline was the second time this season a Cardinal player has recorded 10 or more rebounds in a game—Kayla Lardy (Fairmont, Minn.) hauled in a career-best 10 boards against Crown on Nov. 22. … The Cardinals have five players who have recorded single-game career-highs of 10 points or more this season—O'Toole (23), Emma Schaefer (Falcon Heights, Minn. / 14), Natalie Larson (North Branch, Minn. / 14), Sam Jones (White Bear Lake, Minn. / 12), and Micaela Meredith (Bloomington, Minn. / 11). … Auseth, who has scored in double figures in five of the team's seven games—including a season-best 24-point effort against UM-Morris on Nov. 16—heads into Saturday's conference contest against Augsburg owning a team-leading 13.6 ppg scoring average. … O'Toole (11.9 ppg), Schaefer (10.6 ppg) and Pethke (10.4 ppg) are also averaging in double figures. … Pethke owns the team lead in rebounds (47, 6.7 rpg) and assists (41). … Pethke finished with a single-season career-high 128 assists last season, which ranks 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 15 3-pointers. … The Cardinals have outscored their first seven opponents 248-162 in the game's opening 20 minutes. … The Cardinals have not allowed a team to score more than 30 points in the first half this season, while holding three of their last four 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 seven 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 Augsburg Auggies:
2014-15 Roster | 2014-15 Schedule | 2014-15 Statistics
The first seven games of the season have been a run of streaks for the Auggies, who opened with three straight wins, dropped back-to-back games against Cal Lutheran and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, and head into Saturday's showdown with the unbeaten Cardinals have won two straight. … Saturday's game vs. Saint Mary's is the fifth straight road contest for the Auggies—who play six of their first seven games on the road. … Augsburg has scored more than 60 points in all five of their wins this season, while netting 40 points in both losses—a 52-40 setback vs. Cal Lutheran and a 50-40 loss vs. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. … Raenn Sorenson equaled her career high with a team-best 21 points against Carleton Wednesday. Sorenson also netted 21 points against St. Scholastica on Nov. 22. … Jessica Lilliquist leads the team with an 11.3 ppg scoring average. She is one of three Auggies averaging in double figures heading into Saturday's game against Saint Mary's—Abbey Luger (10.7 ppg) and Sorenson (10.3 ppg) are the other two. … Luger owns a team-leading 35 rebounds (5.0 rpg) through seven games, while Luger's 26 assists and Jenna Orth's 30 steals are also team highs. … As a team, Augsburg knocked down a season-high 18 free throws vs. Carleton Wednesday. … The Auggies are shooting 40 percent from the field (158-for-392), while hitting on 50 percent of their free throws (57-for-101).