ARDEN HILLS, Minn. — The first two times the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's basketball team squared off against Bethel, the Royals put an end to a lengthy Cardinal winning streak—ending a season-opening eight-game run with a 51-47 victory on Dec. 8, and snapping Saint Mary's six-game win streak with a 78-54 triumph on Jan. 31.
And, unfortunately for the Cardinals, the Royals were at it again Thursday night, as the teams squared off in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Playoff semifinals at Robertson Center.
Only this time, it wasn't just a three-game win streak the Royals put an end to—Bethel also put an end to the Cardinals' post-season run, beating Saint Mary's 72-56 to earn a spot in Saturday's conference playoff title game against top-seeded and second-ranked St. Thomas.
Bethel scored the game's first five points, but the Cardinals answered with an 8-2 run to grab an early 8-7 advantage.
That, however, would be the last time the Cardinals would play with a lead, as Bethel pushed its lead to as many as 11 twice—before a half-ending 6-0 Saint Mary's burst made it a five-point Royal lead at the break, 35-30.
The Royals' lead hovered around six points for the first 11 minutes of the second half, but a 12-0 Bethel run transformed BU's lead from 57-51 to 69-51, and the Cardinals could not recover.
Just two days after watching
Emma Schaefer (Falcon Heights, Minn.) pour in a game-, season-, and career-high 26 points in the Cardinals' 90-58 quarterfinal victory over Gustavus,
Molly O'Toole (Plymouth, Minn.) traded places with her sophomore teammate in the conference playoff spotlight.
O'Toole scored 21 of the team's 30 first-half points and finished with a career-best 25 points. The freshman forward also hauled in a team-leading 11 rebounds en route to her first collegiate double-double.
As a team, the Cardinals—who shot a season-best 60 percent from the field in Tuesday's rout of Gustavus—could not find that Midas Touch from the field against the Royals, hitting just 19 of 64 field goal attempts (30 percent), including a 4-for-12 effort from behind the 3-point line, while going 14 of 18 from the free throw line.
Bethel, the tournament's No. 2 seed, boasted four players in double figures—including two who recorded double-doubles. Rachel Parupsky netted a team-high 21 points and added 14 rebounds, while Kalli Zimmermann chipped in 19 points and 10 boards. Sydney Schultz and Hannah Niewald also scored in double figures, chipping in 12 and 11 points, respectively.
With the loss, the Cardinals close out the season with an 18-9 overall record. Bethel, meanwhile, improved to 21-5 and will travel to top-seeded St. Thomas for Saturday's 3 p.m. conference playoff title game.
