ST. PETER, Minn. — Going up against arguably the best team in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference — not to mention all of NCAA Division III — the one thing the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team could not afford was to let the Gusties get on a roll.
Unfortunately, the Gusties were not willing to follow that blueprint.
Gustavus — the MIAC regular-season champion and boasting a #7/#8 national ranking in two different national polls — outscored Saint Mary's 23-11 in the first quarter and 19-8 in the second, and never let the Cardinals recover in dealing SMU a 70-36 conference setback Wednesday evening at Gus Young Court.
Gustavus scored the game's first four points, and after SMU's
Zoe Fink (Stevens Point, Wis.) knocked down the first of her three first-half 3-pointers to cut the lead to one, 4-3, the Gusties went to work, scoring 19 of the final 27 points in the opening quarter for a 23-11 advantage.
The Gusties picked up right where they left off in the second quarter, scoring the first eight points to extend their lead to 20, 31-11. Fink delivered back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the deficit to 14, 31-17, only to have GAC end the quarter on a 11-2 burst to claim a 42-19 lead at the half.
Saint Mary's came out of the break and rattled off eight unanswered points — capped by
Katelyn Cruze's (Litchfield, Minn.) first career 3-pointer in her final game as a Cardinal — to get Saint Mary's back within 42-27 early in the third quarter.
That, however, would be as close as SMU would get, as the Gusties ended the third quarter netting 14 of the final 18 points, and outscored the Cardinals 14-5 in the final frame to seal their 18th win in 19 conference contests.
Fink finished with a team-high nine points and
Maddie Wall (Cameron, Wis.) chipped in eight for the Cardinals, who finished 14-for-46 (30.4 percent) from the field, including 7 of 19 from behind the 3-point line, while going 1-for-2 from the free throw line.
