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OSHKOSH, Wis. — Courtney Euerle (Litchfield, Minn.) has come up big for Saint Mary's University women's basketball team time and time again this season — and in the team's biggest game in nearly three decades, the senior could not have been any bigger.

The Cardinal senior scored 16 points and pulled down a career-high 17 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season in SMU's NCAA regional tournament game against UW-Oshkosh Friday evening at the Kolf Sports Center.

Unfortunately, Euerle's Herculean effort — not to mention the never-say-die efforts of all the Cardinals — was not enough, as the Titans ended SMU's dream season with a 71-61 victory.

"It's a tough way to end your season, but I'm proud of what this team accomplished this year," said SMU coach Mandy Pearson. "Everyone played hard from start to finish and we left it all on the court — which is all you can ask."

The NCAA tournament butterflies proved to be the biggest opponent for both teams in the opening half, as the Cardinals shot 38 percent from the field (10-for-26) — thanks in part to a 7-for-16 showing over the final 12 minutes — and turned the ball over 11 times, while the Titans were just 9 of 31 from the field (29 percent).

UW-Oshkosh grabbed the momentum early, scoring 10 of the game's first 14 points, but a 12-2 Saint Mary's run turned the tide and gave the Cardinals its biggest lead of the opening 20 minutes, 19-12, with 8:20 on the clock.

Those final eight minutes, however, belonged to the Titans, who rattled off 11 unanswered points as part of a 14-1 run that gave UW-Oshkosh a 26-20 edge with 51 seconds to play.

Euerle made the most of those final 51 seconds, sandwiching a pair of baskets around a Titan free throw to pull SMU within two, 26-24, at the break.

Euerle picked up right where she left off in to being the second half, scoring SMU's first four points — the first two on a layup that tied the game 26-26, while a pair of free throws pulled the Cardinals to within two, 30-28.

UW-Oshkosh would build its lead to as many as eight on two separate occasions, before the Cardinals regained control. Whittling the Titans lead all the way down to a 45-45 tie with 10:30 remaining in regulation.

The Titans used a 5-0 run to pull back out front 50-45, but again SMU battled back to even, 52-52 on a 3-pointer by Octavia Brown (Broadview, Ill.) with 6:51 on the clock.

An 8-0 UW-O burst, however, left the Cardinals staring at a 60-52 deficit with less than three minutes remaining — and this time, SMU could not claw its way back, as the Titans knocked down nine free throws in the waning minutes to seal the win.

Euerle — the reigning MIAC Player of the Year — went 6-for-10 from the field and 4 of 6 from the free throw line in recording 16 points, while hauling in 14 defensive boards en route to her career-high 17 rebounds.

Shelby Auseth (Wanamingo, Minn.) chipped in 11 points and Brown added 10 for the Cardinals, who also got nine points on three, 3-pointers from Darcey Rice (Eagan, Minn.), who, like Euerle, was playing in her final collegiate game.

"Our seniors did such a great job for us all season," said Pearson. "They are both such competitors and did everything they could to help this team succeed."

The Cardinals, who claimed their first MIAC regular-season title since the 1985-86 season — the same year SMU made its last NCAA tournament appearance — closed out the season with a school record-tying 24 wins in finishing 24-4.