NEW ULM, Minn. — After scoring just 58 points in their season-opening loss to UW-Stevens Point, the Saint Mary's University women's basketball cranked up the offensive heat Monday evening against Martin Luther.
 
And nobody was more heated up than the Cardinals' Jada Biermeier (Eau Claire, Wis.) and Ashley Streveler (Colby, Wis.).
 
Biermeier scored the Cardinals' first nine points — and finished with a team-best 19 points — while Streveler chipped in 18 points in leading Saint Mary's to an 80-74 nonconference victory over the Vikings.
 
Biermeier could do no wrong early on, hitting on three of her first four field goal attempts — including one 3-pointer — and added a pair of free throws to propel Saint Mary's to an early 9-6 advantage. Saint Mary's would build its lead to as many as eight twice in the game's opening quarter, including 27-19 on a Streveler 3-pointer to close out the first-quarter scoring.
 
Streveler buried another long-range bomb less than three minutes into the second quarter to give Saint Mary's its largest lead of the half, 35-23. Martin Luther used a 7-0 run to whittle the lead to five, 35-30, only to have Saint Mary's close out the half scoring 10 of the final 17 points to take an eight-point, 45-37 edge into the locker room at the break.
 
Martin Luther came out of the halftime intermission and quickly knocked down back-to-back field goals to cut the Cardinal lead to four, but back-to-back 3-pointers from Streveler stifled the Vikings' rally — and gave Saint Mary's a 10-point, 51-41 lead with 7:54 to play in the quarter. Saint Mary's pushed its lead to a game-high 13, 61-48 on a pair of Streveler free throws, but the Vikings would not go away, getting to within five, 64-56, before Valerie Higgins (Sioux Falls, S.D.) drilled a quarter-ending 3-pointer for a 64-56 SMU advantage.
 
MLC opened the game's final quarter the same way it kicked off the third stanza, scoring four straight points to make it a four-point game, 64-60. The Cardinals rebuilt their lead to eight, 75-67 on another Higgins 3-pointer, and SMU held the Vikings off down the stretch for the six-point victory.
 
Biermeier and Streveler led four Cardinals in double figures with their career-high 19- and 18-point performances, with Higgins and Alyssa Coleman (Matteson, Ill.) chipping in 13 and 12 points, respectively.
 
As a team, the Cardinals shot 41.5 percent from the field (22-for-53) — including 9 of 19 from behind the 3-point line — while adding a 28 of 35 effort from the free throw line. Biermeier led the way for SMU from the charity stripe, going a near-perfect 10-for-12, while Streveler (4) and Higgins (3) accounted for seven of the team's 3-pointers.
 
The Cardinals (1-1 overall) are back in action — and back on the road — on Saturday, when they head to Macalester's Leonard Center in St. Paul, Minn., to kick off Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play against the Scots. Opening tip is slated for 1 p.m.