Box Score  | GameDay Preview

WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's basketball team may be in a sharing mood on Wednesday, but it's a pretty safe bet, when the Cardinals close out their regular-season schedule on Saturday against Augsburg, they're going to want it all to themselves.

"It" being the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular-season title.

The Cardinals wrapped up at least a share of the conference crown on Wednesday, riding five double-figure scorers to an 83-63 win over Hamline at the SMU Gym.

The win not only locked up a piece of conference hardware — SMU's first MIAC regular-season title since the 1985-86 season — but it also locked the Cardinals into the No. 1 seed for the upcoming MIAC Tournament. With a win on Saturday against Augsburg, the Cardinals will claim that elusive conference crown outright.

"Every win is a big win," said SMU coach Mandy Pearson, downplaying the conference title share. "I'm so proud of how hard each player has practiced and played all season long.

"Tonight's game, like so many this season, was a total team effort," added Pearson, whose team is ranked No. 13 in the latest USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll and No. 19 in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25. "I'm excited to celebrate our seniors and parents on Saturday (against Augsburg) — it's another opportunity for our team to improve."

The Cardinals came out firing in the opening half, knocking down their first three 3-pointers, while finishing the opening 20 minutes raining in six treys among their 14 first-half field goals.

Hamline, however, would not go away.

SMU built leads as big as 16 points over the first 20 minutes, but a 13-5 half-ending HU run cut the Cardinals' lead to eight, 42-34 at the break.

Hamline closed to within six three times in the second half — the last 51-45 with 15:15 remaining.

From there, the Cardinals put the pedal to the metal, scoring 20 of the next 25 points to take a 71-50 advantage with 6:50 on the clock — and the Pipers never recovered.

Courtney Euerle (Litchfield, Minn.) — coming off a career-high 22-point performance in SMU's 69-62 overtime win over Gustavus on Saturday — poured in 20 points to pace the Cardinals Wednesday. The senior, who has now netted 20 or more points four times this season, went 10-for-16 from the field — including a 6-for-8 effort in the second half, when she netted 12 of her game-high 20 points.

Darcey Rice (Eagan, Minn.) drained four 3-pointers en route to equaling her career high with 16 points for SMU, while Miriam Awoniyi (Country Club Hills, Ill.) added a career-best 15 points. Bridget Pethke (New London, Wis.) and Emma Schaefer (Falcon Heights, Minn.) also finished in double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Chelsey Bonsante netted a game-high 22 points to lead a trio of Pipers in double figures, with Jordan Sammons adding 15 and Erika Moede chipping in 11.

With the win, the Cardinals — 12-0 on their home court this season and 23-1 over the past season seasons — improve to 19-2 in conference play and 22-2 overall — moving within just two wins of the program-record 24 wins set in 1984-85 (24-2) and equaled in 1985-86 (24-3).