APPLETON, Wis. — When the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's basketball team took the court against Lawrence Wednesday evening, it had been nearly two weeks since the Cardinals had their season-opening eight-game winning streak snapped with a 68-44 nonconference loss at UW-Stevens Point.
And the Cardinals took out their frustrations on the host Vikings—especially in the first and third quarters.
Saint Mary's used a 16-3 run to end first quarter to race out to a 19-6 lead, and outscored Lawrence 15-2 to open the third stanza in cruising to a convincing 73-49 nonconference win at Alexander Gym.
The Cardinals were in command from start to finish, pulling away from a 3-3 tie by scoring 16 of the first-quarter's final 19 points to jump out to a 19-6 advantage after the game's opening 10 minutes.
Lawrence made things interesting, cutting the deficit to four, 22-18, with four minutes remaining in the second quarter—but that was as close as the Vikings would get.
Saint Mary's closed the first half on a 9-2 run, then opened the third quarter with a 15-2 burst to push its lead to 24, 46-22, with 4:14 remaining.
And the Cardinals were just getting warmed up.
Saint Mary's lead bulged to as many as 28, 58-30 before the Cardinals settled for a 58-32 lead heading into the game's final 10 minutes.
Lawrence had the upper hand in the fourth quarter, outscoring Saint Mary's 17-15, but it was far too little, too late, as the Cardinals collected their ninth win in their first 10 games this season.
Haley Trom (Hampton, Minn.) scored a career-high 15 points to lead all scorers, while
Micaela Meredith (Bloomington, Minn.) got into the career-night game as well, recording her first collegiate double-double with 13 points and a career-best 11 rebounds.
Brandi Blattner (Eyota, Minn.) also finished in double figures for the Cardinals, scoring 11 points, while
Bridget Pethke (New London, Wis.) and
Emma Schaefer (Roseville, Minn.) finished with eight and seven assists, respectively.
The Cardinals shot 40 percent from the field—including a 10-for-28 effort from behind the 3-point line, while also going 11-for-18 from the free throw line.
Fanita Robins netted a team-best 10 points for the Vikings (0-9 overall), who shot 35 percent from the field, but were just 5 of 16 from behind the arc.
The Cardinals (9-1 overall) close out the nonconference portion of their schedule on Saturday, traveling to Menomonie, Wis., for a 2 p.m. showdown with UW-Stout.
