ST. JOSEPH, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's basketball team gave unbeaten and league-leading Saint Benedict all it could handle Wednesday evening — even surviving a seven-point first quarter.
 
Unfortunately, Saint Mary's late-game push came up three points short, as the Bennies held off the hard-charging Cardinals 69-66 in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference showdown at CSB's Claire Lynch Hall.
 
Saint Benedict scored the game's first five points and, after Saint Mary's cut the deficit to one, 5-4, scored 14 of the quarter's final 17 points to grab what appeared to be a commanding 19-7 advantage.
 
The Cardinals, however, were unfazed by their slow start.
 
Saint Mary's came out firing to open the second quarter, using an 8-0 quarter-opening run — highlighted by five straight points by Izzy Goettelman (Winona, Minn.) — to quickly whittle that 12-point CSB lead to four, 19-15. Saint Benedict would push its advantage back to seven, 26-19, but SMU closed the half on a 6-2 run to make it a three-point Bennie lead, 28-25, at the halftime break.
 
After playing catch-up for the entire first half, the Cardinals got their first chance to play with the lead in the third quarter, scoring eight of the first 13 points — getting a pair of buckets from Brooklyn Paulson (Holmen, Wis.) and field goals by Graysin Hartjes (Kaukauna, Wis.) and Jada Biermeier (Eau Claire, Wis.) — to nab a 33-28 lead.
 
Saint Benedict answered the early Cardinal burst by scoring nine unanswered points to regain the upper hand, 37-33. Paulson knocked down a 3-pointer to cut the gap to one, 37-36, but CSB ended the quarter outscoring SMU 9-6 to carry a 46-42 lead into the fourth quarter.
 
Saint Mary's whittled the Bennies' lead to one three times in the fourth quarter — twice on Ashley Streveler (Colby, Wis.) 3-pointers and once on a trey by Paulson — but the Cardinals could not get over the hump, and CSB iced the win with a pair of free throws with six seconds remaining for the 59-56 final.
 
Paulson finished with a team-high 16 points, while Goettelman chipped in 12 for the Cardinals, who shot 31.3 percent from the field (21-for-67) with eight 3-pointers, and went 6 of 9 from the free throw line.
 
The Cardinals a(1-2 MIAC, 2-4 overall) are back on the road on Saturday, as they head to Duluth, Minn., for a 1 p.m. conference showdown against MIAC newcomer St. Scholastica.