WINONA, Minn. — When the Saint Mary's University and St. Olaf women's basketball teams took the court on Saturday, it was like a pair of identical twins squaring off against each other.
 
The Cardinals entered the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Playoff opener sitting at 7-15 in conference play and 8-17 overall — the exact same records as the Oles.
 
Saint Mary's entered the contest averaging 58.6 points-per-game and 39.9 rebounds-per-game, while  St. Olaf came in averaging 59.0 ppg and 38.4 rpg.
 
About the only recognizable difference … the names on the front of their uniforms.
 
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, after 40 minutes Saturday afternoon at the Saint Mary's Gym, there would be one more recognizable difference — the team that was celebrating.
 
St. Olaf scored the game's final 11- points, erasing a six-point Saint Mary's cushion and leading the Oles to a 62-57 victory over the Cardinals — and a berth opposite top-seeded Augsburg next Tuesday in Minneapolis, Minn.
 
If the Cardinals were feeling any post-season nervousness, it certainly wasn't evident, as Saint Mary's came out and knocked down its first four field goal attempts — all 3-pointers — in grabbing an early eight-point, 12-4.
 
SMU would push that lead to 10, 16-6 with 1:45 remaining in the opening quarter, only to have that lead quickly shrink to two, 16-14 at quarter's end, as the Oles close the stanza on an 8-0 run — including six unanswered points in the final 43 seconds.
 
St. Olaf got a pair of free throws from Rachel Kelly to open the scoring in the second quarter and knot the game at 16-16. The Cardinals regained a six-point advantage, 26-20, with 2:56 to play until halftime, thanks to Jada Biermeier (Eau Claire, Wis.) — who sandwiched a pair of layups around two free throws.
 
St. Olaf, however, answered by closing the quarter on a 10-2 run to grab the upper hand, 30-28, at the break, 30-28.
 
The Cardinals appeared to have regained control in the third quarter, methodically building their lead to as many as eight, 45-37, when Brooklyn Paulson (Holmen, Wis.) drained a 3-pointer — Saint Mary's first since early in the first quarter. The Oles promptly answered with a 3-pointer of their own and a Kelly layup to whittle the lead down to three, 45-42, heading into the game's final 10-minute quarter.
 
And again, it was Saint Mary's riding the momentum, building leads as big as six twice — 54-48 and 57-51, the latter with 2:57 to play in regulation.
 
Those final three minutes, however, were not kind to the Cardinals, who missed their last five field goal attempts, while the Oles rattled off 11 unanswered points — including seven from Lewis — to seal the win.
 
Paulson finished the afternoon with 23 points — marking the fourth time in SMU's last six games, and 10 times overall, that the senior has scored 20 or more points in a game. Biermeier and Ashley Streveler (Colby, Wis.) each chipped in 11 points for the Cardinals, who finished 18-for-57 from the field (31.6 percent) — including 7 of 28 from behind the 3-point line — while adding a 14-for-17 effort from the free throw line
 
The Cardinals close out the year with a 8-18 overall record, including a 7-15 showing in conference play.
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