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WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's basketball team has a message for the Cardinal team of 1985-86 — move over.

SMU 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 Thursday evening at the SMU Gym.

With the win, SMU — ranked No. 12 in the latest USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll and No. 17 in the D3hoops.com Top 25 — advanced to Saturday's conference tournament title game against St. Thomas, a 71-56 win over Concordia in Thursday's other semifinal in Moorhead, Minn.

And most important of all, the Cardinals get to play that conference championship game on their home court — where SMU is 14-0 this season and 24-1 over the past two seasons.

"That was a great team win," said SMU coach Mandy Pearson, whose team improved to 24-2 overall — equaling that 1985-86 squad for the most wins in program history. "Defensively we played very well and offensively, everyone was so unselfish — they were making the extra pass and when given the opportunity, they were making the most of it."

SMU had an early case of MIAC butterfly indigestion, but once the nerves settled in, so did the Cardinals.

Trailing 14-11 — Bethel's largest lead of the game's opening 20 minutes — the Cardinals used a 17-4 run to transformed that three-point deficit into a 10-point, 28-18 lead with just under six minutes remaining in the half.

Over those five six minutes, Bethel would narrow the gap to six, 31-25, but a half-ending 11-3 burst — capped by a pair of free throws from both Octavia Brown (Broadview, Ill.) and Darcey Rice (Eagan, Minn.), and a driving layup by Bridget Pethke (New London, Wis.) — gave the Cardinals its largest lead of the half, 42-28, heading into the break.

And it was more of the same coming out of the break, as the Cardinals opened the second half the same way they ended the first — on an 11-3 run to take a 22-point, 53-31 advantage.

From there, Bethel never challenged, as the Cardinals led by 20 or more the rest of the way in securing its fifth straight win — and that showdown with St. Thomas on Saturday.

Pethke led the way for the Cardinal offense, scoring a game-high 23 points, going 8-for-9 from the field — including 3-for-3 from behind the 3-point line, while adding a 4-for-4 effort from the free throw line.

Courtney Euerle (Litchfield, Minn.), the reigning MIAC Athlete of the Week, and Rice each chipped in 15 points, with Miriam Awoniyi (Country Club Hills, Ill.) adding 10.

The Cardinals shot 47 percent from the field (28-for-59), but more importantly, knocked down a season-high 32 of 39 free throws.

Hannah Niewald and Kalli Zimmerman each scored 14 points and Rachel Parupsky added 13 for the Royals, who close out the season at 20-7.