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NORTHFIELD, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's basketball team inched one step closer to their first regular-season conference title since the 1985-86 season Wednesday evening — but it was anything but easy.

Unable shake the pesky Knights in the game's opening 20 minutes — clinging to a slim, six-point halftime advantage — the Cardinals turned up the heat in the second half, outscoring Carleton 30-20 in securing their 16th straight victory — a 56-40 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win at West Gym.

With the win, the Cardinals — ranked No. 18 in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25 and No. 17 in the USA TODAY Sports Division III Coaches Poll — improved to 16-1 in conference play and maintained a one-game lead over St. Thomas in the conference standings.

The Cardinals and Tommies will lock horns on Saturday, as SMU heads to St. Thomas for a 1 p.m. showdown at Schoenecker Arena.

SMU struggled to find its shooting touch in the first half, hitting just 11 of 32 field goal attempts — including only 2 of 12 3-pointers — but still took a 26-20 advantage into the locker room at the half.

In the second half, the Cardinals quickly put any hopes the Knights had of an upset to rest from the get-go — scoring 19 of the first 20 points of the half to push their lead to 24, 45-21.

And the Knights never recovered.

Sara Schoenthaler (White Bear Lake, Minn.) led the way for the Cardinals, scoring a team-high 14 points, while SMU's bench outscored Carleton's 20-3, as 10 different SMU players got into the scoring act.

Michele Arima netted a game-high 19 points in the losing effort for Carleton, while Jenny Ramey chipped in 10.

The Cardinals — who have already locked up their third straight MIAC post-season berth — are now just three victories away from equaling the program's longest winning streak, established during the 1985-86 season, when SMU opened the season with 19 straight wins en route to a conference regular-season title and NCAA tournament appearance.