By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
ARDEN HILLS, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's basketball team came up empty in its two regular-season meetings against Bethel this season—despite single-game career efforts from Abby Winter (Winona, Minn.) and Shayley Vesel (Austin, Minn.).
 
But for the Cardinals, that was then …
 
… and this is now.
 
And the Cardinals were hoping "now"—the Cardinals' third meeting with the Royals in the opening round of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Playoffs—would be the charm.
 
Brandi Blattner (Eyota, Minn.) made sure it was.
 
Blattner scored 27 points and hauled in 11 rebounds for her 12^th double-double of the season in leading the fifth-seeded Cardinals to a 58-54 victory over the fourth-seeded Royals at Robertson Center Gym Tuesday evening.
 
Saint Mary's came out flying, scoring 11 of the game's first 13 points—including six straight from Blattner—and led 13-4 on a pair of Alexa Huisman free throws midway through the opening quarter.
 
Bethel, however, came storming back, using a 10-3 burst to cut the Cardinal lead to two, 16-14, only to have Saint Mary's answer by scoring the game's final four points—including a Blattner put-back at the buzzer—for a 20-14 SMU lead after the game's opening 10 minutes.
 
The Cardinals picked up where they left off to open the second quarter, pushing their lead to as many as 10 twice—the second on a Hallie Schmeling (Onalaska, Wis.) basket to put Saint Mary's up 26-16.
 
As they did in the first quarter, the Royals made a later run, scoring seven unanswered points to close out the half—including a buzzer-beater by Hannah Johnson to get Bethel within two, 31-29 at the break.
 
After Huisman knocked down a jumper to open the third quarter, the Royals responded with six unanswered points to take their first lead of the game, 35-33, midway through the quarter. And remainder of the third quarter followed the same script as the first two, as Saint Mary's scored eight of the final 10 points—including a Huisman 3-pointer to beat the buzzer—to give the Cardinals a five-point, 45-40 lead heading into the final 10-minute quarter.
 
Winter—who scored a career-high 25 points in the teams' first meeting on Dec. 9—opened the final quarter with a 3-pointer to give Saint Mary's one of two eight-point fourth-quarter leads. Bethel, however, would not let the Cardinals out of their sights, regaining the lead, 54-52 on a Johnson layup with just under two minutes remaining in regulation.
 
And over those final two minutes, the Cardinals would score the game's final six points—four on a pair of Blattner field goals and two game-clinching free throws by Vesel with four seconds remaining to ice the victory.
 
And send the Cardinals (16-10 overall) into a 7 p.m. Thursday showdown against regular-season champion and top-seeded St. Thomas in the MIAC Playoff semifinals at Schoenecker Arena in St. Paul, Minn.
 
Blattner, who has now scored 10 or more points in 25 of the team's 26 points—including nine games of 20 or more points—was one of three Cardinals to finish in double figures against the Royals. Huisman, the Cardinals' lone senior, chipped in 14 points and Vesel—who poured in a career-best 23 points in Saint Mary's second meeting with BU on Feb. 3—finished with 10.
 
Johnson finished with 20 points and 17 rebounds—all on the defensive end—to lead the way for the Royals, who close out the year at 18-8 overall. Taite Anderson also scored in double figures for Bethel, finishing with 13 points.