NORTHFIELD, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's basketball team surrendered the game's first basket — and never got the lead back — as Carleton held off a patented fourth-quarter SMU rally in dealing the Cardinals a 66-57 conference setback Saturday afternoon.
 
Amelia Stolt drained a 3-pointer on the Knights' first possession as part of a game-opening 8-2 run — and Carleton would never relinquish the lead.
 
Saint Mary's closed the game to three, 11-8 — sandwiching 3-pointers by Izzy Goettelman (Winona, Minn.) and Maddie Wall (Cameron, Wis.) around a trey by Carleton's Aiana Whitfield — only to have the Knights close the first quarter on a 4-1 run to grab a 15-9 advantage.
 
Carleton picked up where it left off to open the second quarter, scoring seven unanswered points, as that six-point lead ballooned to 13, 22-9. The Cardinals, however, had a run of their own up their sleeves, rattling off 20 of the next 29 points to whittle the Knight lead down to two, 30-29, with 22 to play in the half. Whitfield closed out the first-half scoring with a layup with six ticks on the clock to give Carleton a four-point, 33-29 edge heading into the break.
 
After surrendering the opening basket of the second half, Brooklyn Paulson (Holmen, Wis.) knocked down her first 3-pointer of the game and Ashley Streveler (Colby, Wis.) added a free throw to get SMU within two, 35-33 early in the third frame.
 
Carleton was able to push the lead back to seven, 40-33, but the Cardinals once again came storming back, cutting the gap to one on a Graysin Hartjes (Kaukauna, Wis.) 3-pointer, only to trial by three, 44-41 heading into the game's final 10 minutes.
 
Saint Mary's stayed within striking distance of the Knights through the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter, and trailed by just one, 55-54 after a Katelyn Cruze (Litchfield, Minn.) layup with 3:56 to play. Carleton extended the lead back to seven, 62-55, and would knock down four consecutive free throws in the final minute to seal the win.
 
Paulson finished with a team-high 19 points — including 10 in the second half — while Goettelman chipped in 12 points. As a team, Saint Mary's finished 20-for-65 from the field (30.8 %), but were just 6 of 34 from behind the 3-point line, and added an 11-for-15 effort from the free throw line.
 
The Cardinals (4-11 MIAC, 5-13 overall) are right back in action on Monday, when they return home to the Saint Mary's Gym for a 7 p.m. showdown against Hamline.
 
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