ST. PAUL, Minn. — It was a game of runs for the Saint Mary's and Macalester women's basketball teams in their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference-opener Saturday afternoon.
 
And thanks to second-half performances by Brooklyn Paulson (Holmen, Wis.) and Jada Biermeier (Eau Claire, Wis.), it was the Cardinals who ran off Macalester's Leonard Center Gym with a victory.
 
Paulson scored a team-high 22 points — including 10 of her 16 second-half points in the third quarter — while Biermeier opened the fourth quarter with six unanswered points as Saint Mary's outscored the Scots 19-12 in the game's final 10 minutes to seal the 63-58 conference win.
 
Both teams had their running shoes on from the get-go, as Saint Mary's raced out to an 8-4 advantage — capped by a pair of Biermeier free throws. The Scots, however, answered with seven straight points to take their biggest lead of the quarter, 11-8 midway through the frame.
 
Over the final five minutes, however, the Cardinals found their offensive footing, , scoring eight unanswered points as part of a quarter-ending 11-4 run to give SMU a four-point, 19-15 edge heading into the second quarter.
 
The trend continued in the second quarter, as Macalester rattled off the first seven points to turn that four-point deficit into a three-point, 22-19 lead with 6:21 to go until halftime. Alyssa Coleman (Matteson, Ill.) sandwiched a pair of free throws and a layup around a Scots' free throw the knot the game at 23-23.
 
The quarter would be tied twice more — 25-25 and 29-29 — before one last Macalester outburst gave the Scots a five-point, 34-29 cushion. Paulson scored on a layup with seven seconds on the clock to cut the Cardinal deficit to three, 34-31, heading into the halftime break.
 
Paulson took control for the Cardinals coming out of halftime, scoring SMU's first eight points — including a pair of rain-maker 3-poiners — as Saint Mary's grabbed a one-point, 39-38 lead with 4:36 to play in the quarter. Macalester answered by scoring eight of the final 13 points to regain a two-point cushion, 46-44, with 10 minutes to play.
 
Enter Biermeier.
 
The senior scored six unanswered points for a 50-46 Cardinal lead — a lead they would not relinquish.
 
Trailing by three, 61-58, the Scots had two looks at game-tying 3-pointers in the waning seconds, but came up empty both times, and Paulson iced the win with a pair of free throws for the final 53-48 margin.
 
Paulson finished the afternoon going 7-for-21 from the field with three 3-pointers and a 5-for-6 showing from the free throw line en route to her season-high 22 points, while Biermeier was 5 of 9 from the field and 4 of 6 from the charity stripe to finish with 14 points.
 
As a team, Saint Mary's shot 35.6 from the field (21-for-59) with five 3-pointers and were 16 of 24 from the free throw line.
 
The Cardinals (1-0 MIAC, 2-1 overall) are back in action on Tuesday, as they kick off the home portion of their schedule with a 7 p.m. conference showdown against Hamline at the Saint Mary's Gym.