By MEAGHAN UPDIKE
Saint Mary's Sports Information Intern
 
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota and Saint Benedict women's basketball teams came into Wednesday's matchup with the exact sames records — 6-4 in conference play and 10-7 overall.
 
So it was only fitting that the end result went right down to the wire.
 
Fortunately for coach David Foley, it was the Cardinals who would come up with the clutch shots late, holding off the Bennies 66-60 at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
The Cardinals struck first on a 3-pointer from Claire Patterson (Marine, MInn.), and it was Patterson — along with Brandi Blattner (Eyota, Minn.) and Abby Winter (Winona, Minn.) — who would keep the Cardianls playing with the lead for the majority of the first quarter.
 
Saint Benedict, however, came on strong late in the opening 10-minute period, grabbing a two-point, 12-10 advantage with three minutes remaining and taking a 16-13 cushion into the second quarter.
 
The momentum, and the lead, see-sawed back-and-forth early in the second quarter — with the Cardinals leading 18-16, only to have CSB take a 22-20 advantage, before the Cardinals regained the advantage for the final time in the quarter — and the game — on a Cally Landers (Palos Heights, Ill.) layup with 3:03 on the clock that put Saint Mary's ahead 27-26.
 
The Bennies were able to tie the Cardinals 30-30 with just over a minute left in the half, but Patterson hit a jumper for Saint Mary's to push the Cardinals ahead 32-30 going into halftime.
 
Although their lead never surpassed seven points, the Cardinals were able to stay ahead throughout the third and fourth quarters.
 
Saint Benedict would come within two points of Saint Mary's an severall occasions, but were never able to wrestle the lead away from the Cardinals, who pushed their lead to 49-42 heading into the fourth quarter.
 
Blattner, Winter, and Hallie Schmeling (Onalaska, Wis.) made sure that their team's lead did not falter during the fourth quarter, scoring 11 points between them through eight and a half minutes of play.
 
The Bennies were only trailing Saint Mary's by two, 62-60, heading into the last minute of the game, but Winter and Ewelina Schlomann (New Berlin, Wis.) each made both of their free throws to secure the Cardinals' victory.
 
Blattner and Winter led the Cardinals' offensive charge with a pair of double-doubles — Blattner scoring 22 points and adding 13 rebounds, while Winter gave herself a birthday present with 15 points and 16 rebounds. Patterson also finished in double figures for Saint Mary's, scoring 10 points.
 
Saint Mary's shot 39.7 percent from the field (23-for-58) with five 3-pointers, and made 15 of 17 free throw attempts.
 
Megan Thompson netted 21 points and Alex Johnson finished with 11 in the losing effort for Saint Benedict.
 
The Cardinals (7-4 MIAC, 11-7 Overall) will return to the Saint Mary's Gym on Saturday, hosting Gustavus in a 1 p.m. MIAC showdown.