WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's basketball team took the court Saturday in their home finale against St. Catherine hoping the third time would be the charm.
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the third time wasn't any more charming than the first two.
St. Catherine completed a rare three-game sweep of the Cardinals Saturday, as the Wildcats held SMU to 10 points in each of the first two quarters, and 12 points in both the third and fourth in pulling away for a 60-44 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory at the Saint Mary's Gym.
The Cardinals started strong — but the Wildcats finished stronger — in the opening quarter, with Saint Mary's knocking down a pair of 3-pointers early on to grab a 6-5 lead. SCU regained the lead on a Rachel Randleman jumper and never looked back in building its advantage to nine 19-10 after 10 minutes of play.
SCU extended its lead to 12, 22-10, to open the second quarter, but back-to-back 3-pointers by
Maddie Wall (Cameron, Wis.) got SMU back to within six, 22-16. Six unanswered points from the Wildcats — three on a trey by Karis Zezza and three more on a three-point play by Hattie Fox, however, jumped started a 13-4 to end the quarter and give the Wildcats a 35-20 lead at the break.
Saint Mary's whittled into the Wildcats' lead after the break, closing to within 11, 40-29, only to have SCU was again close the quarter on a tear, scoring nine of the final 12 points to extend the lead back to 17, 49-32 heading into the fourth quarter.
SCU would push its lead to as many as 23, 57-34, and the Cardinals' late-quarter 13-10 push was not enough.
Wall finished with a team-leading 12 points — on 4 of 9 shooting from beyond the 3-point line, while
Zoe Fink (Stevens Point, Wis.) chipped in 11 points and
Kali Olson (New York Mills, Minn.) added 10. Fink and Olson both missed out on double-doubles by one rebound, both closing with nine boards.
As a team, Saint Mary's shot 27.4 percent from the field, going 17-for-62 with eight 3-pointers, and adding a 2-for-2 effort from the free throw line.
Saint Mary's (0-19 MIAC, 2-22 overall) closes out their regular-season schedule on the road on Wednesday, heading to Gustavus' Gus Young Court in St. Peter, Minn., for a 7 p.m. conference matchup against the fifth-ranked Gusties.
