By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's basketball team could do no wrong during the opening minutes of its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against St. Catherine.
 
Unfortunately, the Cardinals could not maintain their sizzling start—which included scoring the game's first 11 points.
 
St. Catherine limited Saint Mary's to a combined 14 points in the middle two quarters and held off a late SMU charge in dealing the Cardinals a 63-59 conference setback at Butler Center Gym.
 
The Cardinals appeared to be invincible coming out of the starting blocks, scoring the game's first 11 points. St. Catherine cut the lead to five, 11-6, but Saint Mary's rebuilt the advantage to as many as 10 twice—including 20-10 with 3:30 remaining in the opening quarter—only to have SCU close the frame on an 8-2 run to make it a four-point Saint Mary's lead, 22-18, after 10 minutes.
 
Saint Mary's scored four of the first six points of the second quarter on a pair of free throws and a layup by Abby Winter (Winona, Minn.) to give the Cardinals a 26-20 edge with 7:49 remaining.
 
That field goal by Winter, however, would be the Cardinals' last of the half—and the only one of the second quarter.
 
Saint Mary's missed its final seven field goal attempts, while also turning the ball over eight times, as St. Catherine scored 10 unanswered points—including back-to-back 3-pointers by Bailee Sillman and Meg Clark—to take a 30-26 lead. Kirsten Keefe (Chatfield, Minn.) drained a pair of free throws with 17 seconds remaining to get the Cardinals within two, 30-28, at the break.
 
The Cardinals were staring at a two-point, 34-32 deficit early in the third quarter—thanks to an Alexa Huisman (Adrian, Minn.) layup—only to have SCU score nine unanswered points to push its lead to a game-high 11 points, 43-32. After going nearly seven minutes without a field goal, Saint Mary's got back-to-back baskets by Brandi Blattner (Eyota, Minn.) and Caily Landers (Palos Heights, Ill.) to make it a seven-point deficit, 43-36, heading into the game's final 10 minutes.
 
Ten minutes that belonged to St. Catherine's Alexis Garcia.
 
Garcia scored 14 of her game-high 26 points in the fourth quarter—knocking down four field goals, including three 3-pointers, and 3 of 4 free throws in helping the Wildcats keep Saint Mary's at bay.
 
Saint Mary's trailed by as many as eight in the fourth quarter, but whittled the Wildcat lead to two, 59-57 with 1:15 remaining in regulation, but a Garcia 3-pointer pushed the SCU advantage back to five, 62-57. Keefe hit a pair of free throws with six seconds on the clock to make it a three-point game, 62-59, but Meg Clark iced the St. Catherine win by hitting 1 of 2 free throws in the game's final second.
 
Blattner finished with a team-high 22 points—going 9-for-19 from the field and 4 of 5 from the free throw line—while adding 15 rebounds en route to her seventh double-double of the season. Winter chipped in 13 points and Huisman added 12 for the Cardinals.
 
Saint Mary's shot 37 percent from the field (22-for-59)—but were a dismal 3 of 25 from behind the 3-point line. St. Catherine, meanwhile, went 22-for-56 from the field (39 percent) and was a more efficient 8 of 19 from behind the arc.
 
Clark also eclipsed the 20-point barrier for the Wildcats, finishing with 22 points, as she and Garcia accounted for 48 of the team's 63 points.
 
The Cardinals (2-3 MIAC, 7-5 overall) return to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Saturday, as Saint Mary's entertains Saint Benedict in a 3 p.m. conference showdown at the Saint Mary's Gym.