By
DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
ST. JOSEPH, Minn. — After giving up the game's first eight points and being forced to play catch-up for the entire 40 minutes in last Saturday's loss to Gustavus, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's basketball team decided to take a different approach Wednesday evening against Saint Benedict.
In fact, the Cardinals simply took a page out of the Gusties' playbook against the host Bennies.
With very favorable results.
Saint Mary's scored nine of the game's first 11 points and never relinquished the lead in rolling to a 77-51 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win over the Bennies at Claire Lynch Hall.
The Cardinals raced out to a 9-2 lead and owned a commanding 17-9 advantage after the opening quarter. Saint Mary's continued to dominate at both ends of the floor over the game's second 10-minute period, pushing its lead to 15 points on three separate occasions, before
Kirsten Keefe's (Chatfield, Minn.) layup beat the halftime buzzer to give the Cardinals their biggest lead of the half, 38-22.
And Saint Mary's wasn't about to take its foot off the accelerator in the second half, outscoring Saint Benedict 24-13 to put the game out of reach, 62-35. CSB held a 16-15 scoring edge in the game's final 10 minutes, but it was too little, too late.
Rachel Kedl (Lamberton, Minn.) and
Brandi Blattner (Eyota, Minn.) led the way for the Cardinals, scoring 14 and 12 points, respectively. Kedl also added eight rebounds, while Keefe dished out eight assists.
The Cardinals — who got scoring from 13 different players — shot 52 percent from the field (32-for-62) with five 3-pointers and an 8 of 11 effort from the free throw line. Saint Benedict, meanwhile, went 15-for-53 from the field (28 percent) with five 3-pointers, and shot 16-for-24 from the line.
Megan Thompson was the only Bennie to score in double figures, finishing with 12 points.
The Cardinals (3-1 MIAC, 6-3 overall) return to action next Wednesday, hosting Viterbo in a 7 p.m. nonconference game at the Saint Mary's Gym.
