ST. PAUL, Minn. — It was a rollercoaster ride of quarters for the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team Wednesday evening.
Saint Mary's would be down one quarter, and up the next.
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the downs overshadowed the ups.
Saint Mary's held a 16-10 scoring advantage in the second quarter, and a 17-10 edge in the fourth. Things weren't quite as favorable in the first and third, however, as the Cardinals were outscored 22-12 in the game's opening quarter and 25-7 in the third quarter in falling to Hamline 67-52 at Hutton Arena.
The first quarter was a battle of 3-pointers, as the two teams combined for six treys in the game's opening 10 minutes — including 3-pointers by SMU's
Ashley Streveler (Colby, Wis.),
Izzy Goettelman (Winona, Minn.), and
Valerie Higgins (Sioux Falls, S.D.).
Hamline grabbed the momentum midway through the opening quarter and never relinquished it, building its lead to as many as 12, 21-12, before Macy Petron (Royalton, Minn.) hit a jumper in the waning seconds to cut the SMU deficit to 10, 22-12 heading into the second quarter.
The Pipers continued to have the upper hand to open quarter No. 2, netting the first field goal of the frame for a 12-point, 24-12, advantage — and held an 11-point, 27-16 cushion on a pair of Chantel Anderson-Manning free throws with 7:35 to play.
From there, the Cardinals went to work, scoring the game's next 10 points — including four straight free throws from
Brooklyn Paulson (Holmen, Wis.) and another by
Katelyn Cruze (Litchfield, Minn.) — to cut the deficit to one, 27-26. HU would rebound by ending the quarter on a 5-2 burst to carry a 32-28 lead into the locker room at the half.
The third quarter got off on the right foot for the Cardinals, as Paulson knocked down a quarter-opening 3-pointer to get Saint Mary's within one, 32-31, less than three minutes into the stanza. Over the final seven minutes, however, Hamline would outscore the Cardinals 25-4, and all of the sudden, SMU was staring at a 22-point deficit, 57-35, with 10 minutes to play.
Saint Mary's would outscore the Pipers in the fourth quarter, but could get no closer than 15.
Paulson led the way for the Cardinals, scoring a team-best 18 points, while missing out on a double-double by one rebound. As a team, Saint Mary's shot 28.3 percent from the field (17-for-60 with five 3-pointers and finished 13 of 14 from the free throw line.
The Cardinals (3-11 MIAC, 4-13 overall) are back in action on Saturday, when they return home to the Saint Mary's Gym for a 1 p.m. conference matchup against MIAC-newcomer St. Scholastica.
