ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's basketball team entered Friday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference-opener against St. Catherine flying high.
Back-to-back wins to open the season will do that to a team.
Unfortunately, the Cardinals' perfect flight hit a bit of turbulence against the Wildcats.
Quite a bit of turbulence.
St. Catherine erupted for 30 first-quarter points — the same amount allowed by the Cardinals in the entire 40 minutes of their 78-30 win over Northland last Tuesday — and never looked back in dealing Saint Mary's an 83-45 setback at Butler Center Gym.
The Wildcats were unstoppable in the opening quarter, going 12-for-19 with a pair of 3-pointers and used a 14-1 run in building a 16-point, 21-5 lead with more than four minutes to play.
Zoe Fink (Stevens Point, Wis.) drilled a 3-pointer and
Grace Schaffer (Farmington, Minn.) followed with a steal and bucket to get Saint Mary's back within 11, 21-10 — only to have SCU close the quarter on a 9-0 burst to extend its lead to 30-11.
And things did not go any better for the Cardinals in the second quarter, as SCU closed out the frame's final 6:18 outscoring Saint Mary's 13-1 to take a commanding 48-16 lead into the locker room at the half.
Saint Mary's, which shot just 14.8 percent from the field in the opening half — going 4 of 27 — found their offensive rhythm in the third quarter, netting more points in that 10-minute span (19) than they had in the entire opening 20 minutes.
Problem was, the break did nothing to cool off the red-hot Wildcats — who picked up right where they left off — scoring 23 third-quarter points to take a 71-35 lead into the game's final stanza, where SCU held a 12-10 scoring advantage to seal the victory.
Izzy Goettelman (Winona, Minn.) scored 11 points,
Autumn Passehl (La Crosse, Wis.) chipped in nine, and Schaffer added seven for the Cardinals, who closed out the game 11-for-59 (18.6 %) from the field, with five 3-pointers and an 18 of 25 effort from the free throw line.
The Cardinals (0-1 MIAC, 2-1 overall) are back in action on Tuesday, when they make a return trip to St Paul, Minn., this time heading to Hamline's Hutton Arena for a 7 p.m. MIAC showdown with the Pipers.
