By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — In a game that saw 16 lead changes and a tied score 11 times, it was only fitting that Wednesday evening's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference showdown between the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team and St. Catherine needed more than four quarters to determine a winner.
 
Unfortunately, that 16th lead change — late in the second overtime — proved to be the Cardinals' undoing, as St. Catherine's Mary-Claire Francois scored on a layup with 8.7 seconds remaining, breaking a 77-77 stalemate and leading the Wildcats to a 79-77 win over Saint Mary's at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
The Cardinals found themselves playing catch-up for almost the entire first quarter, before finally pulling even with the Wildcats 11-11 late in the first quarter — thanks to a quarter-ending 9-3 run — before scoring the first five points of the second quarter to grab a 16-12 advantage.
 
Saint Mary's led 18-17 on a Claire Patterson (Marine, Minn.) driving layup four minutes into the second quarter, but St. Catherine answered with a 7-2 run for a four-point, 24-20 lead — leaving the Cardinals to play catch-up once again. A Jada Biermeier (Eau Claire, Wis.) basket with 3:10 on the clock got Saint Mary's back even, 28-28, only to have the Wildcats end the quarter scoring five of the final eight points for a two-point, 33-31 lead at the break.
 
The Cardinals, who scored the first basket of the second half — a Shayley Vesel (Austin, Minn.) jumper to knot the game at 33-33 — never led in the third quarter and were left staring at a two-point, 45-43 deficit heading into the fourth stanza.
 
After falling behind 49-44, the Cardinals' Brooklyn Paulson (Holmen, Wis.) — who was held to just one point through three quarters — took charge, scoring seven points in a 13-0 Saint Mary's run that gave the Cardinals their biggest lead of the game, 57-49, with 2:42 to play in regulation.
 
The lead, however, quickly evaporated, as St. Catherine closed out the quarter on an 11-3 run to send the game into overtime deadlocked at 60-60.
 
Neither team led by more than two points in the first five-minute extra session, and it was a basket by SCU's Jackie Radford with two seconds remaining that sent the game to overtime No. 2 still tied, 71-71.
 
In the second overtime, Saint Mary's got a pair of free throws from Paulson with 1:30 to play to take a 77-75 lead. St. Catherine ran 20 seconds off the clock before Francois was fouled and knocked down both free throws to tie the game for an 11th time, 77-77.
 
Saint Mary's could not get a shot off on its next possession, turning the ball over on a shot clock violation, and Francois hit what proved to be the game-winner on a layup with under 10 seconds to play to give the Wildcats the two-point victory.
 
Paulson and Vesel each scored 18 points for the Cardinals, while Ewelina Schlomann (New Berlin, Wis.) chipped in career-highs of 15 points and eight rebounds, and Patterson finished with 12 points.
 
As a team, the Cardinals shot 46.6 from the field (29-for-62) and were 15 of 25 from the free throw line.
 
Danica Cambrice scored a game-high 24 points and added 14 rebounds to lead the way for St. Catherine, which shot 39.5 percent from the field (30-for-76) — with three 3-pointers — and finished 16-for-23 from the free throw line.
 
The Cardinals (0-2 MIAC, 0-4 overall) are back on their home court at the Saint Mary's Gym on Saturday, entertaining Concordia in a 3 p.m. conference matchup. The Wildcats (1-2 MIAC, 3-3 overall) are back on the road on Monday, heading to St. Olaf's Skoglund Center for a 7 p.m. MIAC showdown against the Oles