ST. PAUL, Minn. — For the second straight game, the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team made the trek to St. Paul, Minn., Tuesday evening — and, unfortunately for the Cardinals, the second trip didn't end any better than the first.
 
Fresh off a conference-opening 83-45 loss to St. Catherine last Friday, the Cardinals could not keep pace with the torrid shooting of Hamline, as the Pipers outscored Saint Mary's 20-12 in the second quarter and never took its foot off the gas in dealing SMU a 71-47 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback at Hutton Arena.
 
The Cardinals did not get off the quite the start they were hoping for, surrendering the game's first three field goals — and with two minutes gone in the opening quarter, SMU was staring at a 7-0 deficit. SMU spent the remaining eight minutes of the quarter clawing its way back, getting to within one, 13-12 with four seconds remaining — thanks to five unanswered points by Grace Schaffer (Farmington, Minn.).
 
Hamline, however, knocked down a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to close the opening quarter with a 16-12 lead — and extended it to 19-12 with a trey to kick off the second frame. And HU's lead would continue to grow over the second 10-minute stanza, outscoring Saint Mary's 20-12 to take a 12-point, 36-24 advantage into the locker room at the break.
 
The Pipers continued to sizzle from the field in the second half, scoring the first seven points of the third quarter and pushed its advantage to 15, 49-34 heading into the final quarter.
 
And what a quarter it was — for the Pipers.
 
Hamline wasted no time pushing its lead to 20, 57-37, and outscored the Cardinals 22-13 in the final 10-minute frame in securing the conference victory.
 
Schaffer led the way for Saint Mary's, scoring a team-best 10 points, while Katelyn Cruze (Litchfield, Minn.) added eight points and Riley Schiernbeck (Ida Grove, Iowa) added seven. AS a team, Saint Mary's shot 34.0 percent from the field (17-for-50), but were just 3 of 21 from behind the 3-point line (14.3 %), while hitting 10 of 16 free throws.
 
The Cardinals (0-2 MIAC, 2-2 overall) are now off until Nov. 29, when they return home to the Saint Mary's Gym for a 7 p.m. conference showdown against Saint Benedict.
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