WINONA, Minn. — The first time the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota and Saint Benedict women's basketball teams squared off, the Blazers escaped with a two-point, 47-45 victory.
 
And Cardinal coach Brent Pollari expected nothing less when the two teams met again Saturday afternoon at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
Only this time, there was much more at stake—a berth in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Playoffs, to be exact.
 
A win by the Cardinals and they would earn the sixth and final ticket to the conference's big dance. A loss, and Saint Mary's would be left on the outside looking in.
 
And, unfortunately for the Cardinals, while the second meeting between the two teams was once again a nailbiter, when the dust settled, the Blazers again escaped with the narrow victory—beating Saint Mary's 60-55 in overtime at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
The Cardinals kept their playoff hopes alive—getting a 3-point bank-shot by Emma Schaefer (Roseville, Minn.) with 6.2 seconds remaining to pull Saint Mary's even, 52-52 and force the extra five-minute session.
 
In that overtime, however, Saint Benedict outscored the Cardinals 8-3, including a 5 of 6 showing from the free throw line, to seal the win.
 
Defense was the name of the game in the opening 20 minutes, as Saint Mary's limited the Blazers to just seven field goals—including one in their first 14 attempts—in grabbing a four-point, 24-20 halftime advantage.
 
The Cardinals scored the game's first basket on a Brandi Blattner (Eyota, Minn.) layup, and led 5-2 on an Emma Schaefer (Roseville, Minn.) three-point play. CSB finally knocked down its first field goal—a 3-pointer by Macy Kelly with 4:50 remaining in the opening quarter—to knot the game at 5-5.
 
The Blazers would not sink another field goal until the 7:30 mark of the second quarter—going 0-for-8 over that span—and Saint Mary's took advantage, building its lead to as many as seven twice, before settling for the four-point halftime cushion.
 
Saint Benedict grabbed its first lead of the game, 34-33 with less than five minutes remaining in the third quarter, but the Cardinals answered, outscoring CSB 9-6 the rest of the way to take a three-point, 42-39 cushion into the final 10 minutes of regulation.
 
CSB scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to grab a three-point, 45-42 lead with 6:10 remaining, and was clinging to a three-point, 52-49 cushion when Schaefer drained her buzzer-beater to send the game into overtime.
 
Blattner led the way for the Cardinals' offense, scoring 12 points and hauling in a game-high 15 rebounds, while Schaefer and Alexa Huisman (Adrian, Minn.) each chipped in 11 points.
 
Annie Dittberner scored a game-high 16 points—including a 5 of 8 showing from the free throw line—to lead the way for Saint Benedict.
 
The Cardinals close out the season with a 7-11 record in conference play, while going 13-11 overall.