By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's basketball team found themselves in the role of the hunter, rather than the hunted, all afternoon in their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against nationally ranked St. Thomas.
 
But no matter how hard they tried, the Cardinals could not track down their prey, as the Tommies jumped out to an 11-point halftime lead and never slowed down in the second half in dealing Saint Mary's a 60-35 setback Saturday at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
The Tommies scored the game's first four points on a pair of field goals by Madi Schirmer and would not relinquish the lead.
 
Saint Mary's knotted the game, 4-4, but the Tommies answered with seven straight points for a seven-point lead with just over three minutes to play in the opening quarter. The Cardinals, however, were unfazed, scoring six of the final eight points to cut the deficit to three, 13-10, heading to the second quarter.
 
St. Thomas scored nine of the first 11 points in the second quarter to push its lead to nine, 22-13, but again the Cardinals kept the Tommies in their sights, using an 11-2 run to make it a five-point game, 24-19 with three minutes left until halftime.
 
The Tommies gave themselves a little breathing room, scoring the final six minutes of the half to take a nine-point, 30-19 advantage into the halftime intermission.
 
Saint Mary's scored the first five points of the third quarter — getting a 3-pointer from Claire Patterson (Marine, Minn.) and a bucket by Maggie Robertson (Orland Park, Ill.) — to make it a six-point game, 30-24, but that was as close as the Cardinals would get.
 
St. Thomas — which netted the final five points of the third quarter and the first six of the fourth quarter — outscored Saint Mary's 15-3 in the game's final 10 minutes en route to its fifth straight win.
 
Patterson finished with a team-high 10 points for the Cardinals, while St. Thomas put two players in double figures — Brynne Rolland (14) and Amber Darge (12).
 
The Cardinals (1-8 MIAC, 1-13 overall) are right back in action on Monday, traveling to Saint Benedict's Claire Lynch Hall in St. Joseph, Minn., for a 7 p.m. matchup against the Bennies — a game that was originally scheduled for Nov. 26, but was postponed due to inclement weather. The Tommies (8-2 MIAC, 12-3 overall), meanwhile, return home to Schoenecker Arena in St. Paul, Minn., on Wednesday, entertaining Macalester in a 7 p.m. MIAC showdown.