STEVENS POINT, Wis. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's basketball team has found all kinds of ways to come out on top.
 
The Cardinals have trailed at halftime, led at halftime—they've even been tied at halftime.
 
Yet, no matter what the situation, when the final horn sounded, it was the Cardinals who came out on top.
 
Until Saturday night, that is.
 
UW-Stevens Point outscored Saint Mary's 19-7 in the second quarter, and the Cardinals never recovered in falling to the Pointers 68-44—and snapping their season-opening eight-game winning streak.
 
After a closely contested first quarter, in which the Pointers settled for a three-point, 13-10 advantage, UW-Stevens Point took control in the game's second stanza, outscoring Saint Mary's 19-7—including a quarter-opening 12-3 burst that included nine unanswered Pointer points—as UW-SP took a 32-17 lead into the halftime intermission.
 
The Cardinals came out on fire to open the third quarter, cutting the Pointers' lead to eight, 32-24 with a quarter-opening 7-0 run, but UW-Stevens Point answered with an 8-0 run of its own to make it 40-24 with 4:09 remaining. UW-SP closed out the quarter by outscoring Saint Mary's 8-7 to push its lead to 17, 48-31.
 
And unfortunately for the Cardinals, the fourth quarter looked eerily similar to the second, as UW-Stevens Point scored 14 of the quarter's first 21 points to push its lead to 62-38 with 4:33 remaining—and Saint Mary's could not recover.
 
Brigette Audette (Big Lake, Minn.) led the way for the Cardinal offense, scoring nine points, while Micaela Meredith (Bloomington, Minn.) chipped in eight points and Brandi Blattner (Eyota, Minn.) added seven.
 
The Cardinals never got into an offensive rhythm against the Pointers, shooting just 27 percent from the field (15-for-56—including 3 of 18 from behind the 3-point line.
 
Lauren Ankiam and Autumn Hennes each scored 11 points to lead the way for UW-Stevens Point (6-2 overall), which shot a blistering 52 percent from the field (26-for-50)—including 7-for-16 from behind the arc—while adding a 9-for-14 showing from the free throw line.
 
The Cardinals (8-1 overall) are now off until Jan. 30, when they travel to Appleton, Wis., for a 5 p.m. nonconference game against Lawrence.