WINONA, Minn. — It's been a rollercoaster ride of a season for the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team — some good quarters, and some not-so-good quarters.
 
Monday evening, however — in arguably one of their most complete games of the season — it was all good quarters for the Cardinals.
 
Saint Mary's got a season-high 26 points from Brooklyn Paulson (Holmen, Wis.) and a career-high 14 rebounds by Katelyn Cruze (Litchfield, Minn.), as the Cardinals took the lead late in the first quarter and never relinquished it in rolling to a 70-57 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
Hamline enjoyed the momentum early in the first quarter, posting a pair of seven-point leads, — 9-2 and 11-4 – but the Cardinals cranked up their offense, scoring nine of the next 13 points to pull even, 13-13, and got a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Graysin Hartjes (Kaukauna, Wis.) to give SMU its first lead of the game, 16-15, after the opening quarter.
 
And once they got the lead, the Cardinals weren't about to give it up.
 
Saint Mary's rattled off 12 unanswered points — including a pair of Izzy Goettelman (Winona, Minn.) 3-pointers — to extend its lead to 13, 28-15. HU cut the deficit to eight, 33-25, only to have Paulson deliver a 3-point bomb to push the Saint Mary's lead to 11, 36-25 at the break.
 
As good as the Cardinal offense was in the second quarter, it was equally as dangerous in the third, as Saint Mary's outscored the Pipers 20-16 to extend their lead to 16, 56-41 with 10 minutes to play.
 
Hamline never challenged in the fourth quarter, getting no closer than 11, as Saint Mary's cruised to the 13-point win — and put an end to its three-game losing streak.
 
Paulson went 7-for-13 from the field, with five 3-pointers, and a 7-for-7 effort from the free throw line en route to her 26-point night — the fifth time this season the senior has eclipsed the 20-point barrier. Goettelman chipped in 15 points and Hartjes added 10, while Cruze delivered 14 board and added four points.
 
As a team, Saint Mary's shot 44.2 percent from the field (23-for-52), including an 11-for-26 performance from 3-point land, and finished 13 of 20 from the line. Hamline, meanwhile, shot just 28.1 percent (18-for-64) from the field, with a 4-for-26 effort from behind the arc, and went 17 of 23 from the free throw line.
 
The Cardinals (5-11 MIAC, 6-13 overall) hit the road on Wednesday, when they travel to St. Olaf's Skoglund Center Gym in Northfield, Minn., for a 7 p.m. matchup against the Oles.
  Read Full Article