WINONA, Minn. — The question surrounding Gustavus all season has been a complex one: How do you stop the nationally-ranked and conference-leading Gusties?
 
The answer through the first seven games of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference season — you can't.
 
Try as they might, the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team had no answer for the Gusties' multi-faceted offensive attack, either, as the Cardinals became GAC's eighth straight conference victim, falling 74-32 Wednesday evening at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
Gustavus — ranked No. 6 in the latest WBCA Top 25 and No. 7 in the most recent D3hoops.com Poll — dominated from start to finish against the Cardinals, limiting SMU to just a Maddie Wall (Stevens Point, Wis.) field goal at the 5:55 mark of the first quarter in cruising to a 21-2 lead after 10 minutes.
 
Wall ended SMU's scoring drought with a 3-pointer two minutes into the second quarter, but the Gusties' smothering defense continued to frustrate the Cardinals, who got a pair of field goals and a free throw from Katelyn Cruze (Litchfield, Minn.) and a free throw from Riley Schiernbeck (Ida Grove, Iowa) over the final seven-plus minutes and were staring at a 41-11 deficit at the intermission.
 
The halftime break did nothing to cool off the Gusties, who put together their second 21-point quarter, while holding Saint Mary's to nine points for the second straight period in extending their lead to 62-20 heading into the fourth quarter — a quarter in which both teams would score 12 points to make it a 74-32 final.
 
Wall was the only Cardinal to reach double figures, going 4 of 9 from the field with two 3-pointers for 10 points. As a team, Saint Mary's shot 31.0 percent from the field (13 of 42) and connected on just 2 of 13 3-pointers, while going 4-for-10 from the free throw line. SMU proved to be its own worst enemy, committing 24 turnovers.
 
The Cardinals (0-10 MIAC, 2-12 overall) are now off until next Monday, when they travel to St. Paul, Minn., for a rare nonconference matchup against MIAC foe St. Catherine. Opening tip at SCU's Butler Center Gym is set for 7:30 p.m.
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