NORTHFIELD, Minn. — That strange sound you may have heard around 4:45 p.m. Saturday afternoon … that was Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's basketball coach Brent Pollari's sigh of relief.
 
Saint Mary's first-year head coach was probably holding his breath over the game's final two minutes, as Saint Mary's needed every bit of a game-ending 8-2 run, as the Cardinals held off upset-minded Carleton 65-59 in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game at the Knights' West Gym.
 
The Cardinals—who scored 35 of the game's first 42 points, including a span of 20 unanswered points, in an easy, 85-47 victory of the Knights in their first meeting of the season—found nothing easy about Saturday's rematch.
 
The Cardinals used an early 8-0 run to grab their biggest lead of the game, 16-8, but it was Carleton that ended the quarter scoring 11 of the final 13 points to take a 19-18 advantage.
 
Carleton had the upper hand for the majority of the second stanza, leading by as many as five, before taking a four-point, 34-30 lead into the locker room at the half.
 
The Knights continued to play from out front in the third quarter, building an eight-point, 42-34 lead with 6:01 to play, only to have Saint Mary's offense begin to awaken with a quarter-ending 10-4 burst that made it a two-point game with 10 minutes remaining.
 
And what a 10 minutes into proved to be.
 
The game was tied six times in the final quarter the last at 57-57 on a free thro by Carleton's Sarah Waldfogel with 1:54 left on the clock. Saint Mary's knocked down three free throws—one by Emma Schaefer (Roseville, Minn.) and two by Micaela Meredith (Bloomington, Minn.)—to take a 60-57 lead, but Caroline Hull pulled the Knights back within one, 60-59 with 55 seconds to play.
 
That, however, would be as close as Carleton would come, as Meredith iced the game for the Cardinals, drilling her second 3-pointer of the game, before adding a late free throw to seal the victory.
 
Meredith scored a team-high 20 points, while Brandi Blattner (Eyota, Minn.) collected her fourth straight double-double—and ninth of the season—with 17 points and 16 rebounds. Schaefer and Bridget Pethke (New London, Wis.) also scored in double figures for the Cardinals, netting 10 points each.
 
Saint Mary's shot 41 percent from the field (22-for-53) and were 17 of 26 from the free throw line, while Carleton went 22-for-54 (41 percent) and 10 of 18 from the line in the losing effort.
 
Michele Arima scored a game-high 23 points on 10 of 19 shooting—including three, 3-pointers—for the Knights.
 
The Cardinals (10-2 MIAC, 16-3 overall) return home to the Saint Mary's Gym on Wednesday, entertaining St. Catherine in a 7 p.m. conference matchup.