By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
MOORHEAD, Minn. — If Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's basketball coach David Foley thought his Cardinals' last two wins were a bit too close for comfort, it's hard to image how the first-year head coach felt after Wednesday's contest against Concordia.
 
After all, the  Cardinals — coming off a five-point win over Carleton and a nine-point victory over Macalester last week — found themselves deadlocked with the Cobbers with three seconds remaining on the clock.
 
Enter Brandi Blattner (Eyota, Minn.), who calmly beat the buzzer with a game-winning jumper, breaking a 66-66 tie and leading the Cardinals to a nail-biting 68-66 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win at Memorial Auditorium.
 
The Cardinals appeared to have things well under control, getting a field goal by Ewelina Schlomann () to open the fourth quarter — and give Saint Mary's a game-high 12-point advantage.
 
From there, however, the quarter belonged to the Cobbers, who cut the deficit to three, 66-63 on an Elizabeth Birkmeyer bucket with just over a minute remaining in regulation, and, after a Cardinal turnover, Amber Lingen drained a 3-pointer with 20 seconds on the clock to knot the game at 66-66.
 
Saint Mary's turned the ball over for a second straight time on its next possession, but the Cobbers could not capitalize, missing a pair field goals — and then turning the ball over — to set up Blattner's game-winning heroics.
 
Neither team could take control through the game's first three quarters — although the Cobbers did try to run away with things early on, scoring the game's first seven points.
 
Saint Mary's, however, responded by scoring 14 of the next 18 points to take their biggest lead of the first half — 14-11 — with just under four minutes remaining in the opening quarter. Concordia would answer with a quarter-ending 9-6 burst to knot things at 20-20 after 10 minutes.
 
The Cobbers held the Cardinals at bay through the majority of the second quarter, holding three, four-point leads — including 38-34 on a Mira Ellefson 3-pointer with two minutes remaining — only to have Saint Mary's whittle that lead down to one, 40-39 on an Abby Winter (Winona, Minn.) put-back at the buzzer.
 
Saint Mary's pushed its lead to as many as nine, 54-45 on a pair of Winter free throws with one minute remaining in the third quarter, before getting a Maggie Robertson (Orland Park, Ill.) basket before the quarter expired to push the Cardinals' lead to 10, 58-48 heading into what turned out to be wild final 10 minutes.
 
Blattner finished with a team-high 16 points for the Cardinals, going 7-for-12 from the field and knocking down 1 of 2 free throw attempts. Brooklyn Paulson (Holmen, Wis.) chipped in 13 points — including 11 in the second quarter — while Winter added 12 points.
 
Saint Mary's shot 49.1 percent from the field (28-for-57) with six 3-pointers and a 6 of 9 showing from the free throw line.
 
Birkemeyer led a trio of Cobbers in double figures with 16 points, followed by Ellefson (14) and Grace Wolhowe (12).
 
The Cardinals (5-3 MIAC, 9-6 overall) are back in action — and back on the road — on Saturday, heading to St. Thomas' Schoenecker Arena in St. Paul, Minn., for a 1 p.m. conference showdown against the fifth-ranked Tommies.