WINONA, Minn. — It's become the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team's modus operandi — allow its opponent to get just far enough ahead through the first quarter to get comfortable, and then pounce.
 
And Wednesday evening Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference against St. Olaf was no different.
 
Saint Mary's managed just nine first-quarter points — thanks in large part to a five-point, quarter-ending burst by Ashley Streveler (Colby, Wis.) — and were staring at a 12-point, 21-9 deficit after the game's opening 10 minutes.
 
In other words, the Cardinals had the Oles right where they wanted them.
 
This time around, however, the Cardinals' rally train ran out of steam.
 
Saint Mary's clawed its way back from a 17-point first-quarter deficit, and led by four in the third quarter, only to have St. Olaf outscore the Cardinals 26-13 over the game's final 12:27 en route to a 72-63 victory over SMU at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
The Cardinals managed just four points through the first nine minutes of the opening quarter — getting field goals from Brooklyn Paulson (Holmen, Wis.) and Alyssa Coleman (Matteson, Ill.) — and trailed by 17, 21-4, before Streveler went on her mini-tear to get Saint Mary's back within 12, 21-9 heading into the second quarter.
 
The Cardinals took a page from Streveler's book to open the second quarter, scoring eight unanswered points — including back-to-back-to-back field goals by Paulson — to whittle the St. Olaf lead to four, 21-17, less than three minutes into the quarter.
 
St. Olaf regained its offensive swagger, rattling off 10 of the next 14 points to push its lead back to 10, 31-21, and got a 3-pointer from Sophie Olmen in the waning seconds to take a 34-26 cushion to the locker room at the half.
 
 The Cardinals put on a 3-point clinic coming out of the halftime break, knocking down four of its first six attempts from behind the arc, and adding a traditional three-point play by Izzy Goettelman (Winona, Minn.) to take its first lead of the game, 46-44, with 4:03 to play in the third quarter.
 
Saint Mary's pushed its lead to four, 50-46, on a Jada Biermeier (Eau Claire, Wis.) put-back, but St. Olaf closed the quarter scoring six of the final eight points to knot the game at 52-52 heading into the game's final 10-minute quarter.
 
A quarter that belonged to the Oles.
 
St. Olaf scored the first six points and 16 of the first 22, giving the Oles a 10-point, 68-58 advantage — and this time, the Cardinals did not have an answer.
 
Paulson finished with a team-high 24 points — her third straight 20+ point performance — while Streveler chipped in 12 points and Graysin Hartjes (Kaukauna, Wis.) delivered nine points, including a pair of third-quarter 3-pointers.
 
As a team, the Cardinals shot 28.2 percent from the field (20-for-71) with six 3-pointers, and finished 17 of 22 from the free throw line. St. Olaf, meanwhile, went 29-for-68 from the field (42.6 percent) with nine 3-pointers and a 5 of 10 effort from the charity stripe.
 
The Cardinals (2-3 MIAC, 3-5 overall) are back in action — and back on their home court — on Saturday, as Saint Mary's entertains Bethel in a 1 p.m. conference matchup at the Saint Mary's Gym.