By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — For the second time in as many games, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's basketball team squared off against an unbeaten opponent Thursday evening.
 
Just five days after dealing Bethany Lutheran its first loss after five consecutive victories with an 83-72 win, the Cardinals stared down opposite UW-Oshkosh — winners of each of its first four contests.
 
This time around, however, the Cardinals were unable to deal their foe its first loss of the season, as UW-Oshkosh scored the final 11 points of the first quarter and Saint Mary's never recovered, falling to the Titans 61-36 at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
The Cardinals netted two of the game's first three field goals, and thanks to a pair of Mary Wintroath (Suffern, N.Y.) free throws, were deadlocked with the Titans 6-6 with just under six minutes to play in the opening quarter.
 
Unfortunately, the next time the Cardinals  knock down a field goal — a 3-pointer by Hallie Schmeling (Onalaska, Wis.) 1:30 into the second quarter — UW-Oshkosh had rattled off 11 unanswered points to grab a 17-6 advantage.
 
Brooklyn Paulson (Holmen, Wis.) followed Schmeling's 3-pointer with one of her own, as the Cardinals' quick 6-0 start to open the second quarter pulled them within five, 17-12.
 
Another UW-Oshkosh run — this one a 19-4 answer — however, left the Cardinals staring at a 36-16 deficit with less than a minute remaining until halftime.
 
Isabel Bettag (Maple Park, Ill.) knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers in the final 30 seconds to make it a 36-22 UW-Oshkosh advantage heading into the locker room at the break.
 
Saint Mary's opened the third quarter in similar fashion to the second, scoring the first four points to make it a 10-point game, 36-26, but again the Titans had an answer — outscoring Saint Mary's 9-3 the rest of the way to lead by 16, 45-29 after 30 minutes.
 
There would be no quick fourth-quarter burst for the Cardinal, as UW-Oshkosh took a page out of Saint Mary's book with a 9-2 quarter-opening effort to put the game out of reach.
 
Bettag led the way for the Cardinals, scoring a career-high 11 points, while Paulson chipped in seven. The Cardinals shot just 26 percent from the field (11-for-43) and hit on 4 of 16 3-pointers, while going 10-for-14 from the free throw line.
 
Brooklyn Bull and Brooke Freitag paced the Titans with eight points each. UW-Oshkosh, which shot 34 percent from the field (21-for-61), got scoring from 12 different players.
 
The Cardinals (3-2 overall) return to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Saturday, heading to Northfield, Minn., for a 1 p.m. matchup against Carleton.