By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. — Getting off to a good start was key to Sunday's nonconference showdown between the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota and UW-Whitewater during the opening day of the JustAGame Holiday Shootout.
 
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, it was the Warhawks who got off to a sizzling start — scoring 23 of the game's first 28 points.
 
And the first-quarter hole was just too deep for the Cardinals to climb out of, as UW-Whitewater — ranked No. 17 in the latest WBCA Top 25 and No. 19 in the D3hoops.com Poll — knocked down its first four 3-pointers and dealt Saint Mary's a 73-44 setback at JustAGame Fieldhouse.
 
The Warhawks' Rebekah Schumacher set the tone with a 3-pointer to open the scoring, and led 5-4 — with Ewelina Schlomann (New Berlin, Wis.) and Shayley Vesel (Austin, Minn.) accounting for the Cardinals' two field goals — before rattling off 18 of the next 19 points to claim a 
23-5 lead.
 
Trailing 23-7 after the game's opening 10 minutes, the Cardinals' offense came to life in the second stanza, cutting the deficit to 11 twice — both times on field goals by Vesel — only to have UW-Whitewater scoring the final four points of the half to take a 35-20 lead into the locker room at the break.
 
The Cardinals whittled the lead down to nine, 26-27, to open the third quarter — getting a 3-pointer from Vesel and baskets by Rachel Kedl (Lamberton, Minn.) and Jada Biermeier (Eau Claire, Wis.). From there, however, the third quarter belonged to the Warhawks, who rattled off 11 unanswered points — and 15 of the final 20 to take a 51-32 cushion into the game's final 10 minutes.
 
UW-Whitewater opened the fourth quarter in much the same manner it opened the game, scoring 18 of the first 23 points and never slowed down, as the Warhawks made the Cardinals their seventh straight victim.
 
The Cardinals (1-7 overall) and Warhawks (9-1 overall) are both right back in action on Monday, as UW-Whitewater will face St. Thomas at 1 p.m. and Saint Mary's will square off against UW-Stevens Point at 4 p.m. during Day 2 of the JustAGame Holiday Shootout.
 
Official statistics are not available as of 4:35 p.m. Sunday.