WINONA, Minn. — When the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team took the court Tuesday evening against Northland, it marked the first-ever meeting between the Cardinals and the LumberJills.
 
And after the offensive display the Cardinals put on, Northland may not be too eager for a second meeting.
 
Saint Mary's held the visiting LumberJills to just 12 points over the middle two quarter and got scoring from 12 different players in cruising to a 78-30 nonconference victory at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
The Cardinals took control from the opening tip, knocking down the first two field goals, and building leads as big as 14, 19-5, before settling for a 19-8 advantage after the opening quarter.
 
Saint Mary's lead continued to expand in the second quarter — thanks in large part to a quarter-opening 13-2 SMU run that gave the Cardinals a 31-10 cushion. And SMU was just getting warmed up, outscoring the LumberJills 7-1 in the final 6:02 to push its advantage to 33, 47-14 at the half.
 
The Cardinals opened the second half the way they closed the first, scoring in bunches. SMU netted the first five points to extend the lead to 38, 51-14, with 6:35 to play, and closed the quarter on a 5-2 run to take a 37-point, 57-20 lead into the game's final 10 minutes.
 
Saint Mary's offense continued to run on cruise control in the fourth quarter, outscoring the LumberJills 21-10 to complete the 48-point rout.
 
Riley Schiernbeck (Ida Grove, Iowa) led the Cardinals' balanced offensive attack, scoring a career-high 11 points, while Izzy Goettelman (Winona, Minn.), Maggie Newhouse (Owatonna, Minn.), and Zoe Fink (Stevens Point, Wis.), and Valerie Marial (Rochester, Minn.) all added eight.
 
As a team, the Cardinals shot 40.5 percent from the field (30-for-74) with five 3-pointers, and a 13-for-18 effort from the free throw line (72.2 %). Northland, which got a game-high 14-point effort from Tianna McKinley — including all eight of the Lumberjills' first-quarter points — finished 11-for-46 from the field (23.9 %) with five 3-pointers and added a 3 of 6 showing from the line.
 
The Cardinals (2-0 overall) kicked off Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Friday, when they travel to St. Catherine's Butler Center Gym in St. Paul, Minn., for a 7 p.m. showdown with the Wildcats.
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