ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's basketball team pulled off one Herculean comeback during the first round of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference games — rallying from 19 points down in the fourth quarter to beat St. Olaf 62-60.
And Wednesday evening, the Cardinals almost did it again.
Almost.
Saint Mary's cut a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit to three with just under two minutes remaining in regulation, but couldn't quite pull off the come-from-behind win, falling to St. Catherine 75-67 at Butler Center.
Both teams came out firing on all cylinders from the opening tip. St. Catherine knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to open the game, and, after SMU's
Grace Schaffer (Farmington, Minn.) answered with a trey of her own, the Wildcats netted the next six points for an early 12-3 advantage.
But with the snap of their fingers — in the form of a field goal from
Alyssa Coleman (Matteson, Ill.) and five unanswered points by
Izzy Goettelman (Winona, Minn.) — the Cardinals were back within two, 12-10, with just over six minutes to play in the quarter.
St. Catherine pushed its lead to 14, 24-10 — thanks to a 12-0 run — but Saint Mary's once again came storming back, ending the quarter on an 8-0 run to whittle the lead to six, 24-18 heading into the second quarter.
St. Catherine opened the second quarter in the exact same fashion as the first, drilling a pair of 3-pointers for a 30-18 advantage, and two free throws by Sam Orth followed to push the Wildcats' lead back to 14, 32-18. Saint Mary's closed to within 10 on a Coleman layup with 6:19 until halftime, but the Cardinals would only manage a late
Brooklyn Paulson (Holmen, Wis.) free throw in those final six minutes, and SCU took a 38-25 cushion into the locker room at the break.
For the third straight quarter … you guessed it … St. Catherine came out of the break and drilled back-to-back 3-pointers by Rachel Randleman to push the lead to a game-high 19, 44-25. SMU would get as close as 13, but thanks in part to a Sam Orth late 3-pointer, the Cardinals were staring at a 17-point, 61-44 deficit heading into the game's final 10 minutes.
Been there, done that.
Unfortunately — unlike that memorable fourth-quarter rally against St. Olaf on Dec. 2 — this time around, there just wasn't quite enough gas left in the tank.
The Cardinals scratched and clawed their way back into the game, outscoring St. Catherine 22-8 through the first seven minutes to get within three, 69-66. But that would be as close as SMU would get, as SCU would get a field goal and three free throws down the stretch — while SMU would miss a pair of late-game 3-pointers in dropping the eight-point decision.
Goettelman and Paulson would each net 13 points to lead the way for the Cardinals, while Schaffer tossed in a team-high 11 points and Coleman added 10. As a team, SMU shot 44.1 percent from the field (26-for-59), with seven 3-pointers, and went 8 of 12 from the free throw line.
The Cardinals (4-10 MIAC, 5-12 overall) are back in action — and back on the road — on Saturday, heading to Northfield, Minn., for a 3 p.m. conference matchup against Carleton.
