WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's basketball team made a statement Wednesday evening: "Don't count the Cardinals out."
 
And St. Olaf heard that message loud and clear.
 
The Cardinals headed into the fourth quarter of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference showdown against St. Olaf trailing the Oles by 19 points.
 
And that's when the Cardinals made their statement — and took a stand.
 
Saint Mary's outscored the Oles 24-3 over those final 10 minutes, erasing that 19-point deficit and carrying the Cardinals to their first win of the season, a 62-60 victory at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
St. Olaf scored the first four points of the opening quarter and held the lead over the game's opening 10 minutes. St. Olaf led by as many as 10, 17-7, on a Cayden Botton layup with 2:30 to play. SMU closed the quarter scoring six of the final eight points to whittle the Ole lead to six, 19-13.
 
The Cardinals wrestled away the momentum early in the second quarter, outscoring St. Olaf 11-6 — capped by a pair of free throws by Alyssa Coleman (Matteson, Ill.) and another by Ashley Streveler (Colby, Wis.) — to take their first lead of the game. 26-25. St. Olaf, however, responded by closing the half on a 7-0 burst to take a 32-26 lead into the locker room at the half.
 
Saint Mary's offense continued to struggle to find its rhythm in the third quarter — while the Oles seemed to be clicking on all cylinders. St. Olaf transformed that six-point halftime lead into a 19-point cushion, outscoring the Cardinals 25-12 in the third 10-minute session to take what appeared to be a commanding 57-38 cushion heading into the fourth quarter.
 
Saint Mary's scored the first 18 points of the final frame to whittle that 19-point lead to one, 57-56, with just under two minutes to play in regulation. A Cassie Fix free throw gave St. Olaf its first point of a quarter, and a two-point, 58-56 lead. Brooklyn Paulson (Holmen, Wis.) knotted the game at 58-58 with two of her team-high 21 points with 60 seconds to play.
 
The two teams traded baskets — St. Olaf's on a Grace Hegland jumper and SMU's on a pair of free throws by Katelyn Cruze (Litchfield, Minn.) — to tie the game again at 60-60 with 20.1 seconds left. Playing for the final shot, St. Olaf was called for an offensive foul and on the game's final possession, Cruze sealed the thrilling Cardinal comeback on a put-back of an Izzy Goettelman (Winona, Minn.) miss with 2.1 seconds to play for the 62-60 SMU victory.
 
Paulson finished 7 of 18 from the field with three 3-pointers and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line en route to her team-high 21-point effort, while Coleman equaled her career-best with 12 points.
 
As a team, Saint Mary's shot 35.0 percent from the field (21-for-60) with five 3-opinters and added a 15-for-20 showing from the free throw line. St. Olaf, meanwhile, went 25-for-55 (45.5 percent) from the field with five treys and a 5 of 6 performance from the charity stripe.
 
The Cardinals (1-2 MIAC, 1-2 overall) are back in action — and back on their home court — on Saturday, when SMU plays host to Carleton in a 3 p.m. MIAC matchup.
 
 
 
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