MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — When the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's basketball team squared off against Augsburg earlier this season, getting out to a big lead wasn't a problem.
 
Keeping that lead, however, was.
 
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 at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
Saturday afternoon in the teams' rematch, there would be no 20-point leads—or 20 point comebacks.
 
But there would be a second straight Cardinal victory.
 
The Cardinals once again played the majority of the game from out front—in fact, after giving up a game-opening basket to the Auggies' Bridget Bednar, the Cardinals scored nine unanswered points and never relinquished the lead.
 
But for the second straight meeting, no matter how hard the Cardinals tried, no lead was safe.
 
Fortunately, the Cardinals used a five-minute, game-ending 8-4 run to turn a two-point, 43-41 lead into a 51-45 victory at Si Melby Hall.
 
Bednar gave the Auggies' a 2-0 lead on their first possession, but the Cardinals would answer with nine straight points to take a 9-2 advantage early in the opening half. Augsburg cut the Cardinal lead to two, 13-11, with 6:19 remaining, but Saint Mary's used a half-ending 7-5 burst to take a 20-16 lead into the locker room at the half.
 
And it was more of the same in the second half, as the Cardinals would push their lead to eight on three separate occasions—including 51-43 on a put-back basket by Molly O'Toole (Plymouth, Minn.) with 51 seconds remaining that sealed the victory.
 
O'Toole and Emma Schaefer (Falcon Heights, Minn.) each finished with a team-high 10 points, while Shelby Auseth (Wanamingo, Minn.) added nine, and Schoenthaler and Meredith each chipped in eight.
 
The Cardinals (7-3 MIAC, 13-4 overall)—who have now won five straight— return to their home court on Wednesday, as Saint Mary's plays host to Hamline in a 7 p.m. MIAC contest at the Saint Mary's Gym.