WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's basketball team plays its second home game in a three-day span on Monday, as the Cardinals host Bethel for a 5:45 p.m. Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
The Matchup:
No. 14/16 Saint Mary's Cardinals (2-0 MIAC | 8-0 Overall) vs. Bethel Royals (1-1 MIAC | 4-1 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
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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
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals raced out to leads as big as 22 in the first half, but had to survive a 20-0 Augsburg second-half run to dispatch of the Auggies 66-57 in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game at the Saint Mary's Gym Saturday afternoon | Recap
• Bethel: The Royals shook off any bad vibes from their conference-opening loss to St. Catherinelast Wednesday, as Bethel enjoyed a 58-35 victory over St. Olaf Saturday in their MIAC home opener at Robertson Center in Arden Hills, Minn. | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Bethel—A Year Ago:
• December 4, 2013: The Cardinals found themselves in an all-too-familiar position, down by 11 at halftime in their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against Bethel. And the Cardinals did hold the scoring edge over the game's final 20 minutes—but the 11-point deficit was just too big a hole to dig out of, as Bethel handed SMU a 78-69 conference setback at Robertson Center in Arden Hills, Minn. | Recap
• January 22, 2014: Saint Mary's suffered its lone loss of the season in their first meeting against Bethel on Dec. 4, falling to the Royals 78-69. Since that time, the Cardinals had rattled off 10 straight wins. So when the two teams squared off for the second time, the Cardinals had a little score to settle with the Royals—and settle it they did. Led by Courtney Euerle's (Litchfield, Minn.) double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds, the Cardinals raced out to an 11-point first-half advantage and never looked back in handing BU a 71-54 MIAC setback at the Saint Mary's Gym | Recap
• February 27, 2014: Saint Mary's has a message for the Cardinal team of 1985-86—move over. Saint Mary's tied the school record for most wins in a season—and earned their first-ever berth in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament title game in the process—as the Cardinals dismantled Bethel 94-63 at the Saint Mary's Gym | Recap
 
Up Next:
•  Saint Mary's: The Cardinals are now off until Dec. 30, when they travel to Chicago, Ill., for their final nonconference game of the season—a 2 p.m. matchup with North Park.
• Bethel: The Royals are right back on the court on Tuesday, heading to Minneapolis, Minn., for a 7 p.m. nonconference showdown against North Central.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2014-15 Roster | 2014-15 Schedule | 2014-15 Statistics
The Cardinals' 66-57 win over Augsburg on Saturday was their eighth 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 Bethel Monday is the second of back-to-back home contests for the Cardinals—who are 2-0 on their home court this season and 27-2 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. … Shelby Auseth (Wanamingo, Minn.) and Molly O'Toole (Plymouth, Minn.) led the way for the Cardinals in Saturday's win over Augsburg, scoring 12 and 11 points, respectively. … O'Toole recorded a career-high 23 points in Saint Mary's win over Hamline last Wednesday. It was the second time in eight games the freshman has eclipsed the 20-point barrier—O'Toole netted a then-career-high 21 points vs. UW-Stout on Nov. 21. … Bridget Pethke (New London, Wis.) recorded her first collegiate double-double last Wednesday against Hamline, scoring 15 points and adding a career-best 11 rebounds. The junior guard also dished out a career high eight assists. … 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 boasted four players in double figures in their win over Hamline last Wednesday. It was the third time in seven games Saint Mary's has put four players in double figures in the same game. … 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 six of the team's eight games—including a season-best 24-point effort against UM-Morris on Nov. 16—heads into Monday's conference contest against Bethel owning a team-leading 13.4 ppg scoring average. … O'Toole (11.8 ppg), Pethke (10.0 ppg) and Schaefer (10.1 ppg) are also averaging in double figures. … Pethke has led or shared the team lead in rebounds in every game this season, and owns the team lead in rebounds (53, 6.6 rpg) and assists (47). … Pethke finished with a single-season career-high 128 assists last season, which ranks No. 3 all-time. … Saint Mary's has knocked down a season-high 11 3-pointers twice this season. … As a team, the Cardinals have drained 54 3-pointers this season—led by Schaefer with 17. … The Cardinals have outscored their first eight opponents 286-178 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 four of their last five opponents—UW-Eau Claire, Crown, UW-La Crosse, and Augsburg—to 15, 16, 19 and 16 first-half points, respectively. … Saint Mary's—which scored a season-high 80 points against Hamline last Wednesday—has not trailed at halftime in any of its first eight 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 Bethel Royals:
2014-15 Roster | 2014-15 Schedule | 2014-15 Statistics
Bethel's game at Saint Mary's Monday is the first of eight straight road games for the Royals—who play 11 of their next 12 games away from Robertson Center. … Bethel is a perfect 4-0 on its home court this season. The Royals' lone loss came on the road at St. Catherine last Wednesday. … The Royals' 66-62 loss to St. Catherine last Wednesday snapped their season-opening three-game winning streak. … Bethel held St. Olaf to a season-low 35 points in Saturday's 58-35 victory. … Rachel Parupsky posted a double-double of 18 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Royals against St. Olaf Saturday. … Kali Zimmerman finished one point shy of her second double-double of the season vs. the Oles, putting up nine points to go with her 12 rebounds. … The Royals set a school record with 17 blocks against the Oles last Saturday, led by Parupsky's game-high seven. … Eleven of the Royals' 17 blocks vs. St. Olaf came in the second half. … Parupsky enters Monday's game against Saint Mary's with a team-leading 17.0 ppg, while also leading the team with 46 rebounds (9.2 rpg) and 22 blocks. … Zimmerman is also averaging in double figures at 14.4 ppg and is second to Parupsky in both rebounds (45 / 9.0 rpg) and blocks (13). …  Zimmerman netted a season-high 27 points in the Royals' season-opening win over Northwestern on Nov. 18. … Parupsky or Zimmerman has been the Royals' scoring leader in all five games. … Angie Kirchoff and Sydney Schultz have each drained five 3-pointers to account for 10 of the team's 17 treys through five games. … Bethel has outscored its opponents 164-122 in the first half, but only hold an eight-point, 160-152 scoring edge in the game's final 20 minutes. … BU has scored 70 or more points twice this season, including a season-high 74 in a 74-52 win over Buena Vista on Nov. 22.